Oklahoma Legislators Gambling On Health Care Decision

State officials in Oklahoma have done

little to comply with the new federal health care law. Instead

they’re gambling that a key provision will be struck down Thursday

by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The move is calculated – albeit risky – for Oklahoma’s GOP

leaders. They cited fears of a federal takeover of health care in

declining to set up a state-run health insurance exchange. Should

the law be upheld and the state doesn’t create its own exchange by

November, the state would automatically be absorbed into the

federal system. That’s the very thing they’re fiercely trying to

avoid. However many GOP lawmakers believe the election of Mitt

Romney as President this November could also lead to the law being

reversed in 2013.

When lawmakers decided to study how the state could set up its

own exchange, conservative activists were so relentless in their

opposition that the Legislature ultimately decided to do nothing.