Small: No excuse for lack of health care transparency

No excuse for lack of health care transparency

By Jonathan Small

We all know someone who has been price-gouged with a surprise medical bill.

Carolyn Coburn, widow of former U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, recently made headlines when she revealed one Tulsa hospital sought to charge her (and her insurer) $4,000 combined for a COVID-19 test.

“Nobody should charge $4,000 to stick a Q-Tip up someone’s nose,” Coburn told Forbes.

Similarly, state Sen. Adam Pugh recalled how the bill for his child’s birth was abruptly cut in half once the hospital learned he was paying out of pocket, rather than through a third-party insurer. The cost of the delivery was the same regardless of payor, so why was the price discrepancy so great?

The answer is that health care, unlike nearly all other professions, operates with no price transparency, and providers are free to make up numbers as they go, leading to wildly inflated bills.

That’s one reason research indicates over 50 percent of U.S. bankruptcies are tied to medical debt.

Fortunately, there is a way to change that dynamic in Oklahoma by empowering consumers.

600,000 masks given to Oklahoma schools by anonymous donor

More than 600,000 masks going to Oklahoma schools, thanks to anonymous donor

OKLAHOMA CITY (March 8, 2021) – Thanks to an anonymous donor, every public school in Oklahoma will receive four KN95 masks for every teacher and school staffer. These shipments come at a time when the vast majority of school districts are having in-person learning amid a statewide drop in COVID-19 cases.

“Masks are important in our arsenal of successful COVID-19 mitigation strategies,” said State Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister. “We are extremely grateful to this donor for prioritizing our hard-working school personnel who have been on the frontlines of this pandemic.”

Column: SB734 is a prescription for lower-quality care

Price Controls Are Bad Medicine for Vulnerable Americans
by Naomi Lopez and Rafael Fonseca, MD

Senate Bill 734 would establish price controls on cutting-edge drug treatments, making it illegal for any health plan to purchase drug treatments where the price exceeded a government-determined reference price. This would apply to state government programs, as well as all private employer-sponsored health plans that cover Oklahomans. These price controls would be based on drug prices found in Canada, a country that explicitly rations care under its socialized medicine system to keep costs down. Put simply, that system is an innovation-killer — and should Senate Bill 734 become law, Oklahomans will be getting a prescription for lower-quality care.

While it may sound appealing to reduce the cost of prescription drug treatments, this proposal would be doing so at the expense of access to the newest, most effective drug treatments. In Canada, a new treatment cannot be sold for more than other drugs in the same therapeutic class, even if it results in better health care outcomes or avoids other costly interventions like surgery and hospitalization. That means that access to the newest treatments are often delayed for Canadian patients by months or, in some cases, years.

Schlomach: the high duty of elected officials and ways they fall short

The High Duty of Elected Officials and Ways They Fall Short

By Byron Schlomach

With a legislative session starting, it’s worth considering - What is the central, over-arching duty of an elected official? The Oklahoma Constitution’s oath of office requires Oklahoma public officials swear to “support, obey, and defend” the constitutions of the nation and the state, that the official will not take bribes, and will discharge duties as best he or she can.

Every individual acting in a governmental capacity in Oklahoma must act in the best interest of the people of the state as a whole. This high duty, executed as a public trust, is best characterized as a fiduciary duty wherein one puts the people’s interest above one’s own, preserving good faith and trust, with a duty to act in the people’s best interest.

Fiduciaries have the power and obligation to act in a person’s best interest and are held to high and strict standards of honesty, diligence, and responsibility. They must be conscientious, loyal, faithful, disinterested and unbiased. They must be free of deceit, conflict of interest, self-dealing, concealment, bribery, fraud and corruption. Too many elected officials fall short in many subtle ways. For example, elected officials probably aren’t doing their fiduciary duty if:

New PAC launches to support Oklahoma Republican women running for office

NEW POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE LAUNCHES TO SUPPORT OKLAHOMA REPUBLICAN WOMEN RUNNING FOR ELECTED OFFICE

OKLAHOMA CITY (March 5, 2021)— A new Political Action Committee (PAC) launched today to help build the bench of Republican women running for elected office across Oklahoma.

The Promoting Oklahoma Women in Elections & Representation (POWhER) PAC is a network of grassroots individuals committed to helping inspire and support Republican women running for office at all levels of government and strengthening the network and unity of Republican women across the state.

Each year, the POWhER PAC will issue checks to eligible women running for election, hold member-only events with PAC endorsed candidates and host an annual networking event for members with former and current elected Republican women.

“We have seen an increasing number of Republican women from across the nation raise their hand to run for office, and we are committed to elevating that movement here at home,” said the POWhER PAC board members. “Our desire is to help inspire and support female candidates and give them the boost they need through financial support and our membership network. We welcome Republicans across Oklahoma - women and men - to join this grassroots effort to help talented, conservative women run for office, deliver change and lead our state at all levels of government.” 

Galbraith: train wreck legislation demonstrates the need for public testimony

Train Wreck Legislation Demonstrates the Need for Public Testimony

By Brad Galbraith

Shutting out Oklahomans’ voices in the legislative process leads to uninformed public policy. A recent hearing of the House Transportation Committee serves as just one example of the testimony deficiency in Oklahoma’s legislative process.

The committee recently considered House Bill 1048, sponsored by Representative Kerbs, which requires private railroads to maintain at least “two crewmembers in the control compartment of the lead locomotive unit of a train.”

Limited to the knowledge and testimony of the bill’s sponsor and the Secretary of Transportation, the committee unanimously voted to approve a simple bill that it believed was an innocuous codification of current standards that would protect public safety indefinitely into the future.

State House passes bill prohibiting forced closure of churches, places of worship

House Passes Bill Prohibiting Forced Closure of Places of Worship

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma House of Representatives passed legislation to protect religious freedom and the constitutional right to worship.

Rep. Brian Hill, R-Mustang, presented House Bill 2648, also known as the Oklahoma Religious Freedom Act, which dictates that anything closing places of worship would be considered a substantial burden on people’s freedom of religion.

“People came to this continent seeking religious freedom and to escape a tyrannical government, and our country’s founders had the wisdom to specifically outline the freedom to worship in one of our founding documents,” Hill said. “My faith, like many Oklahomans, is at the core of who I am, and this bill further protects our God-given right to worship.”

Small: For economic growth, personal income tax matters most

For economic growth, personal income tax matters most

By Jonathan Small

With Democrats holding Congress and the White House, most officials expect states to soon receive yet another round of federal bailout funding. That will translate into hundreds of millions of dollars flowing into Oklahoma government.

Without doubt, that federal policy is wasteful and will encourage state governments to also be wasteful. But Oklahoma can make lemonade from these lemons. As federal funds slosh into our state, Oklahoma lawmakers should simultaneously use un-earmarked state funds to strategically reduce Oklahoma’s personal income tax.

That will put the state on a path to strong economic growth and job creation and make us more economically competitive with Texas, Florida and Tennessee. The data make clear the single biggest advantage those three states hold over Oklahoma is that they do not impose a personal income tax.

1889 Institute: study shows Dental Assistant licensing is unnecessary

NEW STUDY: DENTAL ASSISTANT LICENSING UNNECESSARY

Dental assistants are licensed in only nine states, and in Oklahoma only since 2015.

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK (March 3, 2021) – The 1889 Institute has published “Dental Assistant Licensing in Oklahoma,” which applies criteria the Institute has applied to other licensing laws and finds the need for dental assistant licensing wanting. The questions asked by the 1889 Institute inquire about serious risk to the public and whether incompetent practitioners are difficult to detect. Since dental assistant work does not pose serious risk and incompetents are easy to sort out, there is no reason for licensing them.

“Was Oklahomans’ dental health suffering prior to 2015, when the dental assistant licensing law was passed?” wondered Spencer Cadavero, author of the paper and Research Associate at the Institute. “One would think there would be scores, or at least a dozen, stories of mangled mouths as a result of dental assistant malpractice for the legislature to pass such a law, but no such stories exist or are likely to,” he said.

House passes bill to allow snow cone stands to stay open year-round

Have you ever scratched your head and wondered just why government can be so stupid? Try this one: in Oklahoma, snow cone stands cannot operate year-round. Because government is just stupid.

State Rep. Lonnie Sims is trying to change that, and his bill would allow snow cone stands that also sell hot beverages to apply for a year-round license. Read on:

House Says Selling Both Snow Cones and Hot Beverages Is ‘Snow’ Longer a Problem

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma House of Representatives today voted to stop giving hot beverages the cold shoulder.

House Bill 1772 by Rep. Lonnie Sims, R-Jenks, directs the State Board of Health to create a multi-seasonal license allowing snow cone stands serving hot beverages to remain open year-round.

State and National Data Show Steep Decline in Nursing Home COVID Cases

State and National Data Show Steep Decline in Nursing Home COVID Cases

Many Facilities Poised to Loosen Visitation Restrictions

OKLAHOMA CITY (Feb. 26th) – Data released by the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) shows that new COVID-19 infections in long-term care (LTC) facilities have fallen to less than 10 percent of rates reported in late 2020. From February 11-18 of 2021, there were 39 new COVID cases among residents, according to data reported by OSDH. In the last week of December 2020, that weekly total was 443.

Additionally, test positivity rates continue to decline. In data released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, far fewer Oklahoma counties are listed as “red.” In the last week of December 2020, 29 Oklahoma counties were listed as red counties for high nursing home positivity rates.  In the week ending on February 17, just 11 counties were listed as red.

Most skilled nursing facilities in Oklahoma have now held at least one vaccination clinic, and many have completed the three clinic process. Nationally, upwards of 80 percent of LTC residents have now received at least one dose of the vaccine, as reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those vaccinations appear to be contributing to declining rates of COVID transmission in nursing homes that are far outpacing the rest of the population, according to a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation. 

Important work: State House passes bill... designating rescue animals the State Pet

 Looks like the State House has been busy with some really important matters...

McBride Bill to Name Rescue Animals the State Pet Passes House

OKLAHOMA CITY – State Rep. Mark McBride’s dog Cali gets another shot at fame this year after her owner once again successfully won passage of a bill designating rescue animals the state pet.

House Bill 1816 – known as Cali’s Law – is a revision of a bill that passed the House last year but was sidelined because of COVID-19.