Author Archives: Admin

How we stop Obamacare now

Sen. Dan Newberry

Editorial: In order to stop Obamacare from coming into effect, we must defund it – now.

As
a state senator, I have spent a good portion of the past three years fighting
to protect Oklahomans from the federal intrusion known as the Affordable Care
Act, or Obamacare. I authored the state question creating a
constitutional prohibition in Oklahoma against a mandate for insurance
coverage.

In addition, I worked to find other roadblocks against the
imposition of a federal exchange, which would limit consumer choices and
threaten private industry by expanding government administered healthcare.

The
fight continues. As you are aware, the Supreme Court ruled that the
Affordable Care Act is not a mandate but a tax, and is therefore legal.

Many do not realize that the Act itself provides for direct taxes, above and
beyond the new “taxes” as classified by the Supreme Court. These taxes were
included as a way to help pay for this unprecedented expansion of
government. To make matters worse, these taxes actually discourage people
from buying private health insurance and target those most in need.

Two
taxes in the Affordable Care Act cause me great concern. One is a tax on
life-saving medical devices. This is clearly an effort to ration
healthcare and, in an effort to bring down overall costs, make the
equipment less widely available. The other, an $87 billion tax on
insurance premiums, is even more egregious. When the stated goal of the act is
to have more people covered by insurance, why in the world would you tax those
already purchasing it?

Of
course, political gamesmanship has shaped how this tax is levied. First,
large self-insured companies are exempt from this tax, so the burden falls
directly to small businesses and individuals. Some families will pay an
estimated $500 more per year for insurance when this tax goes into
effect. The burden on small businesses providing health
coverage to their employees could result in the loss of almost 250,000
jobs. Secondly, the law is written so that if you have an HMO instead of
traditional insurance, your tax is 50 percent less than others are
paying. Making this even more interesting is the fact that the nation’s
largest HMO, Kaiser Permanente, which is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay
area, controls much of that market. Incidentally, it is the single largest
insurer in the congressional district of former Speaker of the House Nancy
Pelosi.

It
is time for Congress to act and pass HR 1370 and SB 1880, two companion bills
designed to repeal the Health Insurance Tax. We must get rid of the
health insurance tax for multiple reasons: first, the government should not
pick winners and losers through tax policy; secondly, while we could
debate whether or not government should encourage the purchase of private
insurance, we can certainly agree it should not be discouraged by an excessive
tax; and finally, we have to defund Obamacare as it is the best way to strangle
a bureaucracy that is undeniably out-of-control.

Candidates cower from coverage: Walker, Dahm, and Martin

David Arnett, Founder

Updated Analysis: Multiple candidates in the primary election Tuesday August 28 do not want Tulsa Today Readers to know anything of substance about their races. That secrecy is offensive and appears to be an organized effort by the fringe wing of local political activists.

What makes it funny is that Tulsa Today has posted many interviews with Democrat candidates, raving Liberals and others with which our editorial writers may disagree. That is the point of media – interview everyone and let the readers decide.

Unfortunately the Tulsa County Republican Party is deeply divided between traditional conservatives and the embittered fringe followers of Ron Paul, the John Birch Society and some angry Libertarians. The following candidates appear to be members of that fringe.

State House District 70

Ken Walker holds no experience of significance for office. He is passive in personal conversation and often appears dumbstruck. When he does speak, he agrees with his opponent on matters of substance facing the Oklahoma Legislature.

From campaign materials, Walker has an Associate Degree in “professional cooking,” is a 2004 Graduate of Rhema Bible Training Center, and he touts unspecific studies at Oral Roberts University. He is a salesman for a religious phone book franchise and has been endorsed by the Tulsa Beacon Publisher for whom he has written restaurant reviews. Walker claims membership at Victory Christian Center. His web site does not address specific issues of substance anticipated to come before the Oklahoma Legislature.

In debate, Walker says he is “defined” by “taking on the establishment” in a church experience when he was sixteen years old and of going to church “riding a bicycle in spandex.” He shows the walking stick used when he walked across the country, apparently depending on charity by staying in private homes and visiting churches. Walker speaks; in glittering generalities of religious nature, of the city trash debate (not a state question), and national issues important to all conservatives, but of no specific Oklahoma policy positions.

Also, as Tulsa Today wrote during the previous primary, “Walker fabricated endorsements in this race … The subjects in the photos never met Ken Walker. How does Walker reconcile this issue? He avoids the press.” Click here to read that previous story.

State Senate District 33

In this primary race, one of the most visible vocal Libertarian activists in the area, Nathan Dahm, is trying to win his first public office. Dahm has been instrumental in fighting with other Republicans at State and Tulsa County Conventions.

Dahm failed to unseat Rep. John Sullivan two years ago. He draws the younger Libertarian and John Birch Society followers. As Tulsa Today first wrote in analysis, “He is intelligent, appears earnest and hardworking, but he is self-employed so who knows.”

In more detail, Dahm’s web site says: “Nathan currently manages the daily operations of their family-owned cleaning company, as well as being self-employed with an app development company; and has worked in the past as an engineering technician for a local municipality, and as a producer for a local production company.” Does that sound a little vague to you?

Tulsa County Clerk

The Clerk’s race provides the most striking choice between an idiot and an excellent public servant. We recently wrote in “Assessing the assessor’s debate” that “Dean Martin is, from all indications, a [Ken] Yazel devotee running against Pat Key for Tulsa County Clerk. Martin knows nothing about the function of the Clerk’s office. Martin thinks he can be the figurehead and “find someone like Pat Key to run things,” as a supporter who spoke on Martin’s behalf said at a Republican Club meeting last month.

Further, Martin recently sent out an endorsement by former-State Senator Randy Brogdon saying, “Dean Martin is the kind of conservative Republican I can get behind.” The email was a misrepresentation as it did not identify Brogdon as a FORMER Senator, but we can understand why. Brogdon spent his entire elected career ranting about career politicians, then when term-limited in the Legislature he ran for governor and he now works for the State Insurance Commissioner. That’s right; Randy Brogdon became what he so often damned.

By email, David Tackett, Martin’s campaign manager, wrote: “I have advised Dean not to interview…” Tackett assured it was not personal. We suspect he either thinks Tulsa Today readers have no minds of their own or Martin fears difficult questions.

Does he go by Dean Martin as a grasp at movie star fame? Inquiring minds would ask. Floyd Dean Martin is listed in abundant court documents. We wonder why there have been so many liens and judgements against him – specifically IRS number 5372 0532 92 000606 documenting a $5,904.20 dispute. There is another issue with the Oklahoma Tax Commission regarding documentary stamps that we suspect can be explained away as a minor detail of omission, but the Tulsa County Clerk’s Office is an office of detail. If he can’t get the paperwork right in his own life, how does Martin expect to manage a busy public office of commanded compliance to law?

We found one divorce record 29 pages long – a lot of that activity appeared highly contentious and financially irresponsible. Problem is, Martin doesn’t want to talk about it and, if he does, what he says is often vague, but it is clear from the record, he failed to pay child support as ordered and judgement was rendered. There is also a “Sole Ownership Certificate of Fictitious Name” that is very odd.

Martin’s campaign also lies in published campaign mailers. It is dirty politics. In one received today, Martin asserts “millions of taxpayers’ dollars have been wasted and state laws have been broken.” That is false.

Software at the County Clerk’s office was purchased prior to any other office and it did not cost millions. That software was specifically land record software for the land record office and therefore compatibility with other County software was not required or expected.

The County Clerk’s office has never denied an open record request. Some media and individuals want all records for free, but there is a small charge or subscription allowed by law. There is never been a legal allegation of malfeasance in regard to the Open Records Act in the County Clerk’s Office.

Summary

If you like Ken Yazel, Randy Brogdon, the John Birch Society, and radical Libertarians in frequent dispute then you are going to love Dean Martin, Nathan Dahm, and Ken Walker. In total, this group talks high and works low by referencing national disputes (attempted Marxist takeover of America) and trying to superimpose it on the state and county level. It is not the same. Oklahoma and Tulsa are Conservative – we are just not crazy.

Tulsa Today would rather write about the many positive reasons we believe voters have to support the other candidates in this primary Tuesday August 28 and, in the next few days, we will write those stories. Regardless, please do not forget to vote. Americans get the government we deserve by our attention or lack thereof in each and every election.

Lankford warns of desperate economic need

Staff Report

Washington, D.C. — Representative James Lankford (R-OK) issued the following statement today after yesterday’s report released by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which stated that the impending tax hikes coming at the beginning of 2013 could send our economy further into a deep recession and could increase unemployment.

“This CBO report highlights the desperate need for major tax reform in the United States in order to avoid high-stakes gambling with American families’ tax rates,” said Representative Lankford.

“House Republicans passed legislation to ensure tax rates do not increase on American families at the end of the year. For two consecutive fiscal years we proposed plans to simplify our tax system. Unfortunately, Senate Democrats fail to see the urgency in acting to prevent us from falling over the edge of the fiscal cliff. President Obama himself said that raising taxes in a recession is bad policy. By that same logic, the notion of raising taxes, which CBO has shown to be the pathway to recession, also seems ill-advised.”

The report highlights that the FY 2012 budget deficit will be $1.13 trillion, marking the fourth year in a row of trillion-dollar deficits under President Obama. Gross federal debt will soon surpass $16 trillion and reach a staggering 103.5 % of GDP for 2012. Unemployment in the Obama economy is expected to remain above 8% until mid-2015, and real GDP growth will again stay at meager levels with CBO predicting it just over 2.0%.

“Based on CBO’s findings, allowing the 2001/03 tax policy provisions to expire and allowing sequestration to continue WILL cause a recession,” observed Representative Lankford. "If that happens, unemployment could rise to 9.1% by late 2013, and real GDP would likely decrease by 0.5% during the year. This is simply an unacceptable outcome.

“This CBO report should be the proverbial nail in the coffin in the mission to deal with this fiscal crisis as soon as possible, rather than waiting until the last minute. Americans expect Congress to act now to avoid the fiscal cliff. House Republicans have already passed legislation to avoid both the tax hikes and sequestration. I urge our colleagues in the Senate to seriously consider our proposals or come up with viable alternatives that do not lead to more uncertainty,” concluded Representative Lankford.

A copy of the report can be found here.

History says earth is round, medical costs will rise under Affordable Care Act

Patrick B. McGuigan

Expansion of Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will either result in long-term savings worth millions to Oklahoma taxpayers, or will cost state taxpayers an additional $11.4 billion.

While the experts disagree, history says you can bet President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act will become more expensive than anyone predicts.

Oklahoma “can’t afford the Medicaid expansion. Health and Human Service spending by the state, which includes Medicaid spending, is already the largest portion of the total state budget and continues to grow,” said Jonathan Small of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, a free market think tank.

Not so fast, said David Blatt of the progressive Oklahoma Policy Institute in Tulsa. He argued revenue hikes and cost savings will offset increased government expenditures on health.

“Focusing only on new outlays while ignoring new revenues and cost savings is like saying that making the playoffs cost the Oklahoma City Thunder an additional $5 million for staff and building expenses, while ignoring the additional revenue brought in by ticket sales and concessions for playoff games,” Blatt said.

Confused? Even experts aren’t sure who’s right.

“It’s a very difficult task to estimate revenues for the next year, much less several years down the road,” state finance director Preston Doerflinger said.

Recent state history suggests that government health programs tend to become more expensive.

Oklahoma’s 2001 Medicaid spending totaled $2 billion, of which the state contributed about $495.5 million. Last year, that program ran $4.4 billion, of which the state contributed nearly $1.3 billion.

Health care is now the state’s top budget expense, ahead of No. 2 education. Even in the pre-Obamacare era, Oklahoma relied on federal stimulus dollars to cover some Medicaid costs.

Mike Fogarty, CEO of the Oklahoma Health Care Authority (OHCA), said increased costs for taxpayers will be offset through better personal health for newly insured individuals, reductions in the number of uninsured hospital payments, and state government savings through Medicaid expansion that “could be matched federally.”

OHCA rated well in a 2011 assessment of Medicaid error rates, and Fogarty contends administrative costs are low compared to other states.

“Relative to potential benefits gained,” said agency spokesman Carter Kimble, “the state’s investment is minimal.”

At the heart of Small’s Medicaid conclusions are assumptions about the ACA in its entirety — drawn from analysis of other federal programs. He views state and federal tax burdens holistically, asserting “a tax is a tax” and “a dollar spent is a dollar spent.”

OCPA focused on the first full decade of ACA implementation, costs Small contends could reach $11.4 billion over a decade. He points out, “On a per year basis, that’s about 20 percent of the current appropriated budget. Already, without Obamacare, the maintenance of effort provisions of Medicaid result in annual state match increases of $50-$70 million a year.”

In support of his view that federal programs nearly always cost more than anticipated, Small points to historic analyses showing that when established in 1966 Medicare’s cost was $3 billion — projected to reach $12 billion by 1990. The program’s real costs were $107 billion in 1990.

Rather than implement the new federal law, including Medicaid provisions, Small wants Oklahoma to follow the leads of Florida, Louisiana, Rhode Island and Kansas in seeking waivers from the mandates of “ObamaCare.” Small says Oklahoma needs waivers to allow the Medicaid program to charge higher co-pays for risky behaviors, and for unnecessary emergency room visits. He advocates encouraging uninsured workers to be placed on employers’ private plans.

Small criticized past Legislatures for diversion of at least $161 million from the Insure Oklahoma fund, the program administered by Fogarty’s agency which subsidizes private insurance for the working poor. The structure of the U.S. Supreme Court decision, he says, allows Insure Oklahoma’s individual participants to remain in the program, and not be forced into Medicaid.

In 2011, after working on a health exchange required under the ACA, Gov. Mary Fallin reversed field and was among the first governors to defy the mandate. After the Supreme Court upheld law, Fallin saw no hurry to address the issue.

Doerflinger said she’ll decide on Medicaid policy after November’s election, and will listen to “all the stakeholders.”

He told CapitolBeatOK, “The problem is that the state would have to begin picking up part of the tab three years after implementation.” On Medicaid, budget concerns might force Fallin to participate in the other “exchange” – the one already underway among Small, Blatt and Fogarty.

Fallin was an ally of U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin during her two terms in Congress, and has explicitly endorsed a Ryan-style block grant approach to state Medicaid funding. Ryan has brought his budget-cutting agenda to the Republican party’s national ticket as presumptive presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s running-mate.

The state Legislature has its own wait-and-see approach. The House-Senate Joint Committee on Federal Health Care Law studied the issue, but took no action. Neither the House nor the Senate has Interim Studies focused on Medicaid policy and spending.

About the Author: Patrick B. McGuigan is editor of CapitolBeatOK, an online
news service, and senior editor at The City Sentinel, a weekly newspaper in
Oklahoma City. He is the author of "The Politics of Direct Democracy: Case
Studies in Popular Decision-Making" and of "Ninth Justice: The Fight
for Bork." His essays appear regularly in Perspective, the monthly
publication of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs. McGuigan once served as
Capital Editor for Tulsa Today where his work frequently appears.

Interim Senate study materials available

Staff Report

Oklahomans interested in following the work of Senate interim studies underway this fall now have easier access to materials provided during hearings. Lists of speakers, power-point presentations and other materials can be found on the State Senate website.

Senate President Pro Tempore Brian Bingman said placing these additional materials on the Internet makes it easier for more citizens to follow interim studies.

“Interim studies give us the opportunity to take more time when studying complex issues than we’d have during the session, and many times these panels produce recommendations for legislation,” said Bingman, R-Sapulpa. “Now, in addition to the meeting notices, agendas and the streaming audio and video already available, the public can also access all the materials that are presented in each of the study meetings.”

Materials from the interim studies can be viewed or downloaded by going to the official Oklahoma Senate website at www.oksenate.gov. Select the committee tab at the top of the page and scroll down to the link for interim studies to see any materials available. Documents prepared for the studies will be available online the day of the meeting and will be archived on the website by Senate staff.

The first Senate interim study meeting on the War Veterans Commission and Veterans Centers was held on Tuesday, August 21. All materials provided at that meeting are now available on the Senate website. In addition, once the interim study committees have concluded their meetings, any final reports and recommendations will also be made available online. Anyone wishing to receive notification of upcoming meetings can now sign up for email notices on the Interim Study page of the Senate website.

“Not every citizen or member of the media interested in a particular interim study can travel to the State Capitol and attend these meetings in person. Coupled with our streaming video, this further opens up the process to give even greater access to the legislative process,” Bingman said.