Oklahoma Congressional Candidates Speak Out on Health Care Ruling
Some candidates seeking seats in the next Congress released statements on Thursday following the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold most of the health care law.
In the 5th District, currently represented by Rep. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma City, Democrat Tom Guild, of Edmond, said: “I am very pleased that the United States Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act. The fact that Republican and Bush Appointee Chief Justice Roberts cast the deciding vote to uphold the law is an important signal that the country needs to come together in a bipartisan fashion and create jobs and support education, pass the highway bill, and stop college student loans rates from doubling in two days.
“Progressive Republican President Teddy Roosevelt first introduced health care reform more than 100 years ago. However, without a Democratic Congress and President, the Affordable Care Act would have not been possible. The same folks who want to privatize Social Security, and have voted to end Medicare, want to undo the AFA even before it has fully gone into effect.
“The law already forbids insurance companies from refusing to cover children with pre-existing conditions. This will extend to adults with pre-existing conditions in 2014. The law now requires that 80-85% of the proceeds from insurance premiums be spent on those who are insured by each company. It prohibits large percentages to be spent on overhead including astronomic bonuses for health care company CEOs. The law outlaws lifetime caps on payouts to those with health insurance. This will reduce the number of folks who are forced into bankruptcy, because expensive and/or catastrophic health emergencies rack up bills that virtually no families can pay. It also allows families with children to keep their children on their health insurance policies until age 26. This is one of the most family-friend and pro-families laws in recent memory.”
In the 2nd District, where runoffs will be necessary to determine the Republican and Democratic nominees, the two GOP candidates reiterated their opposition to the health care law.
State Rep. George Faught, of Muskogee: “I am extremely disappointed in the Supreme Court’s ruling on ObamaCare, but as I did before in Oklahoma City I am ready to fight again in Washington for our precious freedoms. This ruling allows another huge expansion of federal bureaucracy and intrusion into the lives of individuals. The Court this morning in essence gave the American people two choices: either get used to health control and rationing as the huge federal bureaucracy chokes off our liberties, or completely repeal this outrageous overreach that has already spawned 18,000 pages of new job-killing federal regulations. Repeal can only be accomplished by electing proven conservatives who have demonstrated that they understand the issues and will take the fight to preserve our liberties to Washington.
“The people of Oklahoma spoke loud and clear in 2010 that they did not want ObamaCare in Oklahoma. I took their voice and their fight to the state capital and stopped it in its tracks, when others wanted to give in and take federal money to start implementing ObamaCare. I understand the issues and recognize the assault on our freedom that this represents.”
Markwayne Mullin, of Westville, said, ““This is an extremely sad day for our country.
“This makes us like socialized countries in Europe. Now every almost every American faces a tax increase disguised as a mandate to buy a particular product. This has to be one of the worst precedents in the history of the country.
“Make no mistake, businesses large and small will react to this ruling in a way that is negative to hard-working Americans. The costs are overwhelming. With my business, the choice I have is to employ fewer than 50 people, or pay at least $250,000 a year in what amounts to a new tax for health care compliance. I assure you I’m not the only businessman debating on what direction my company will go.”
“ObamaCare needs to be repealed, plain and simple.
“The only way to get rid of this terrible plan is for the House and Senate to overturn it and for the next president to toss it out. We must send leaders to Congress who will undo this damage and oppose Barack Obama’s socialist agenda. When I go to Washington to represent the good people of eastern Oklahoma, I will work day and night to repeal ObamaCare.”
The two Democrats in the 2nd District runoff, Wayne Herriman, of Muskogee, and Rob Wallace, of Muskogee, told the Oklahoman in interviews earlier this month that they did not support the health care law.
Democrat John Olson, of Tulsa, who is running for the 1st District seat, said, “Today’s ruling creates certainty for thousands of Oklahomans who faced the end of many broadly popular provisions of the health-care reform law.
“The heat and fury surrounding the Affordable Care Act obscured the fact that many parts of the law are broadly supported by Republicans and Democrats alike.
“Surveys show that over 80% of all Americans — from both parties — are in favor of allowing kids to stay on their parents’ insurance, not allowing women with breast cancer to be denied coverage and ending lifetime caps that forced families into bankruptcy.”
“I have said all along that the so-called individual mandate should be called what the Supreme Court has affirmed: a tax on those who choose not to buy insurance. All of us use the health-care system, whether we have insurance or not.
“I look forward to working in Congress to address the flaws in the ACA, and continue to improve and expand the right to affordable health care that we all share.”
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