House Passes Health Care Protection Bill

Posted by Wayne Hill

Oklahoma House of Representatives

Media Division

March 11, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact: State Rep. Mike Ritze

Capitol: (405) 557-7338

House Passes Health Care Protection Bill

OKLAHOMA CITY – Under legislation passed today by the Oklahoma House of
Representatives, Oklahomans could vote to keep their existing health care
system even if federal health care reform passes.

House Joint Resolution 1054, by state Reps. Mike Ritze and
Mike Reynolds, would allow the voters to change the Oklahoma Constitution
to include a “Freedom of Healthcare Choice Act.”

“The legislation allows Oklahomans to vote to preserve our
current system, a system most prefer to anything the federal government
can come up with,” Ritze, a Broken Arrow physician and surgeon, said.
“Oklahomans want the current doctor-patient relationship preserved instead
of having Washington bureaucrats dictate medical decisions.”

The legislation has been endorsed by officials with the
Oklahoma Constitutional Alliance, a conglomeration of several
organizations including Sooner Tea Party, OKforTea.com, the 912 Project,
the Oklahoma Second Amendment Association, Tulsa Town Hall, Tulsa 912
Project, Oklahoma City 912 Project, ROPE (Restore Oklahoma Public
Education), Oklahoma Tenth Amendment Center, Remember The Bailout, and
others.

Modeled on an Arizona proposal and seeded in 35 other states
by the American Legislative Exchange Council, Ritze and Reynolds’
legislation would place language on the ballot to amend the Oklahoma
Constitution to declare what types of health care systems could lawfully
exist in the state.

The proposed constitutional amendment would

o Prohibit any law or rule from directly or indirectly compelling any
person or employer to participate in any health care system;
o Allow any person or employer to pay directly for lawful health care
services without paying any penalties or fines;
o Permit a health care provider to provide directly purchased lawful
health services without paying any penalties or fines; and
o Stipulate that subject to reasonable and necessary rules that do not
substantially limit a person’s options, the purchase or sale of
private health insurance will not be prohibited.