| June 28, 2013
Oklahomans continue to fight against Obamacare
Oklahoma has taken center stage in the battle against Obamacare, and it’s been a busy week.
A week ago yesterday, the state argued in federal court that it has standing to challenge the implementation of Obamacare. OCPA continues to applaud Attorney General Scott Pruitt for his challenge to the Internal Revenue Service as it attempts to tax, borrow, and spend $800 billion unlawfully.
Yesterday, a federal appeals court ruled that Hobby Lobby won’t have to start paying millions of dollars in fines next week for standing up for religious freedom. OCPA continues to applaud the Green family for standing firm against Obamacare’s anti-conscience mandate.
Also yesterday, the consulting firm Leavitt Partners recommended that the state should pursue “enhanced federal funding,” including Medicaid expansion dollars. This comes as no surprise. As OCPA’s Brandon Dutcher wrote more than three months ago,
One liberal journalist posits that Leavitt Partners, a consulting firm hired to study Oklahoma’s health-care options, could give Fallin cover to try to expand Medicaid. That’s not implausible. A July 21, 2012, New York Times article noted that Leavitt’s firm makes money by helping states prepare for the Obamacare Medicaid expansion. As one Cato Institute scholar warns, “Leavitt” is Republican for “Solyndra.”
OCPA continues to applaud Gov. Mary Fallin and state lawmakers for cutting billions of dollars in future federal spending while also protecting Oklahoma taxpayers from billions of dollars in future state spending. While various Oklahomans on the Left and in the crony capitalist/health-care-provider complex favor the additional government spending (no surprise there — they have supported Obamacare from the beginning), conservatives must insist that this is no time for Oklahoma’s political leaders to “go wobbly,” as Margaret Thatcher would say, in the fight against Obamacare.