Calls for Special Session Not Supported by Governor

One Oklahoma lawmaker says legislatures need to call
themselves back to discuss what to do about the federal requirement for a
health care exchange. 

The federal government extended the deadline for states
to come up with their own plans or face being forced into a federally designed exchange.  The new deadline is December 14, but
Representative Joe Dorman, (D) Rush Springs, says elected lawmakers need to come
back into a special session by the first of December to vote on an Oklahoma
Exchange Program.

Dorman will need to collect the signatures of two-thirds
the members in each chamber in order to call the special session.  That number of signatures will be difficult
to obtain given the small number of Democrats currently holding seats in the
House and Senate.

Governor Mary Fallin returned $54 million in federal
grant money to set up an exchange.  
Republicans had bet on the U.S. Supreme Court striking down the law or a
Republican sweep of the Presidential and Senate elections.  Both of those failed.  Now the state has no plan on what to do with
the exchange requirement. 

The governor’s office says she will likely announce her
plans of how Oklahoma will respond to the health care exchange deadline after
the Republican Governor’s Association Conference which is happening this
week.  A spokesman says she is opposed to
a special session.

Political science professor Dr. Keith Gaddie says some
conservative groups are floating the idea of having states not set up exchanges
and then when the federal government forces them into a one-size-fits-all
exchange the states could sue the federal government again on the basis of
state’s rights. 

Posted: Wednesday, November 14 2012, 09:29 PM CST