Census survey puts Oklahoma in top five for uninsured
Mandated coverage may help cut health care costs, state official says

Hey, someone has to bring up the rear, why not Oklahoma? Soon all those people will be standing in line with their hands out shouting gimme gimme GIMME my free stuff!! Oklahoma has more than its share of slugs.

It's interesting that I don't see any of the "regular" right wing posters posting on this article. Could it be that they might be realizing that they are the ones that would actually benefit from reform but can't acknowledge it?

Terry, I'm not quite sure I fully understand your arguments against health care reform but let me attempt to ascertain: 1. "Healthcare is not a right, it's a privilege.": Our US Constitution guarantees the pursuit of happiness. How can our citizens be happy if they're sick and not offered medical treatment? 2: "People are dying because of their own choices.": You cite an isolated case of mental illness and then somehow transpose it to indict 45 million Americans. That just doesn't make any sense, Terry. 3. "...frontline workers should have the main voice...": Every health care professional organization that I have seen, including the AMA, has endorsed comprehensive health care reform and the majority of our citizens, the most important "voice", are demanding change.

Terry-
People who have preexisting conditions and get laid off and their new employer's health insurance won't pay for their treatments for at least a year if at all are the ones legitimately suffering from our health care system and I am in that predicament.

Sorry you have an idiot friend who smokes but take off your rose colored glasses. I'm glad your lucky to have good health, live a perfect life and have means to pay for your insurance. But before you pat yourself on the back for pretending everyone's problems are their own fault, you might want to get a clue before spouting off that kind of garbage.

I pity you for being that stupid. Its a freaking miracle you've made it this far in life being that dumb. Its garbage like you who perpetuate the unrealistic ideals of America's health care system that make people think we have the best health care system in the world.

You want un-watered down truth jackass? How about you pay my $1,247 a month medical expenses while I continue to work full time and pay for health insurance in hopes they will cover me come February 22nd, 2010. And oh yes, I don't smoke, I don't drink and I eat right. I do everything I'm suppose to do and I'm getting screwed. So f&(# you a-hole!

Well jeez I wonder why? Figure it out Oklahoma/US congress? Oh yeah now the move is to fine folks for not offering health care to its employees. How genious is this? The current Congress is pretty retalitiory and incompetent if you ask me. Healthcare is not a right, its a priviladge. For the most part we are responsible for our choices last I understood. People are dying because of their own choices. I just got done visiting one of our proud medicaid reciepents who continues to smoke like a freight train despite having multiple disease process. And by the way YOU and I are paying for her care because of this partly some of this is likely hereditary. However, we discovered during our investigation that despite having not only mulitple physical disorders this person has a likely severe and prersistent an severe mental illness. Well come to find out this person wasnt taking the recommended treatment or it appeared so for possibly for a year or longer. However, this person wanted to leave recommended treatment likely because all physical and mental disease process were not being met, mainly possibly mental only because they wanted to smoke a cigarette. So Rob people are dying because the system has failed to properly educate people about their conditions and that people with given diagnosis deny them ect, so what do you propose we do with those folks? I believe in one town in America the majority of the 911 calls came from those with severe mental illness or addiction issues and they accounted for a majority of the ER visits, how do you propose to deal with that? Automatically passing Oboma care is NOT the answer, thinking through this process is whether YOU or the public understands. If you have never worked in any kind of healthcare you have NO clue and your voice though important is limited, frontline workers should have the main voice and it doesnt seem to happen on the state and local level. When we politicialize this issue we really water down it and not get the truth. So put that in you pipe and smoke it and get back to me. Thanks

Everyone of our Congressmen/woman in Washington is fighting health care reform. This report exposes the harshness of their positions. PEOPLE ARE DYING, FOLKS, because of the inability to receive medical treatment. And don't tell me about the availability of emergency rooms for the uninsured. Show up with cancer and see how long it takes for them to kick you out on the street. Why don't we just expand Medicare and/or Medicaid to those who cannot afford insurance?

You would think people in the so called Bible Belt would care more about their fellow human beings. Only the healthy and wealthy get to live the good life in a GOP dominated state. But you will get a tax cut along with cuts in infrastructure, education, quality of life, prisons, services, state worker pay, etc.
Cut all the taxes to Zero and prove the GOP theory that cutting taxes will increase revenue.

At least we will no longer have to lie awake at night worrying about the health risks associated with flavored cigarettes...

I ran into paul the other day at the state fair. He apologized for being rude, and explained to me that it was due to his wife running off with a guy from Ok., and that he can't find any friends to play with.

Curt, I'm not sure how you regulate greed; by the time you get to the golden gate, you mave have to wait & you better have a good excuse.

Okieland: Best at being worst, worst at being best.

Private competition ran the automobile industy, and the financial system into the ground. Our government isn't perfect, but it isn't the devil either. The devil is in unregulated greed. One of the seven deadlies if I remember correctly. I'm a democrat, so I can't profess to know as much about the bible as the other party but I'm fairly certain it applies.

Single Payer now!

Oklahoma is near the bottom and trying to catch Texas again. I for one, want healthcare reform, and as a healthcare worker it is past time. I see hundreds of uninsured people come in our Emergency rooms seven days a week with no health insurance and no way of paying for it. We the Oklahoma taxpayers are stuck paying for the insurance companies giant profits. When insurance companies reject people for pre-existing conditions, it causes people like you and I to pick up the tab with higher healthcare costs and higher taxes. I don't like taxes any better than anyone else, but being responsible is what we all need to be. My premiums have risen by 40% in the last six years, and I receive no more service, and worse care than I did in 2000. Just because this state elects caveman politicians who only care about building more military and more tax breaks for the oil companies, we should let them know that no healthcare reform is going to break all of us. Time to quit the partisianship and think about the citizens of Oklahoma and this country.

Michael, you are very passionate about health care reform. I don't know, just asking, is health care for Americans a birth right granted to us by some sort of document? I will answer my own question, NO. Now, if we as a nation feel a 'moral' obligation to provide health care for everyone, then let's find a solution that allows private competition to run the system. I have the feeling that what most people are concerned about is the government running the program and that is my biggest concern as well. You will note that the author of this article stated that Massachusetts came in at 4.6% of their residents were without health insurance. What the author of this article failed to point out was that MA has universal health care which will be bankrupt at the end of this year.

we rank near the bottom in every major survey regarding the number of oklahomans who are insured yest, my right wing friends will tell you that health insurance is fine just like it is and that we do not need any health insurance reform. we are not talking about something trivial here, we are talking about basic health care - peoples lives quite literally hang in the balance. we need comprehensive health care reform and we need it now! and as a moral and just society, we should all be of the opinion that every citizen of our great country should not have to choose whether to put gas in the car and go to work or pay or a doctor visit. this is a moral issue for me, and i cannot understand for a second how any fair minded person thinks that the way insurance companies run things to day is ok. you want to talk about "death panels", we already have them, they are called insurance review boards and they come "between you and your doctor" each and every day.

where is all the money we are collecting from the big tobacco cos that was supposed to help the poor and outcast smokers? oh, i remember, it is in a big savings account that only a select few can use. what a gaint fraud this was. where are all the lottery haters that holler fraud all the time. dont hear anything from them on this big fraud.

I'm very impressed with these comments! I think this might be the first thread were there isn't a bunch of name calling and such. Which kind of restores my faith in Oklahoma (but just a little).

The good news is that Oklahoma and Texas will be major beneficiaries of proper regulation of health insurance companies and mandated acquisition of health insurance by citizens. Ironic.

"If Oklahoma is #5 in the country in uninsured residents, why do many of these same Oklahomans continue to vote for elected officials who are against insurance reform?

1. Stupidity

2. Too much kool aid.

3. Too much listening to the bible thumping right wing zealots.

4. Complacency of the okie masses.

5. Not caring about your pathetic station in life.

6. Laziness, ineptitude and no self motivation.

7. ALL of the above.

If Oklahoma is #5 in the country in uninsured residents, why do many of these same Oklahomans continue to vote for elected officials who are against insurance reform? Looks to me like the education system in Oklahoma doesn't work too well either.

Oh come on, at least here in Okiehoma we're leading in something besides teen pregnancy, dropouts, divorce and liars. Is this a great State or what.
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Matt1-
First off, its not President Obama's plan that want to tax Cadillac plans, its Max Baucus's plan (he's received more $ from the health/insurance industry than anybody else in congress), second, the limit is being amended to $14,000 for individuals and $24,000 for couple/families in Baucus's plan.

Thirdly, it goes to show that we need a public option to keep insurance companies from raping the American people. Average annual profit by the top 10 health insurance companies in 2000 was $2.4 billion and in 2007 was $13 billion (S.E.C. statistics) and according to the Census Bureau, 13% of Americans lost their insurance from 2000-2007.

So why are the insurance companies so opposed to a public option when it is clear that they make more money covering less people?

I've been fortunate to have employer covered insurance for several years, but that hasn't always been the case. When I wasn't covered, I paid out of pocket for catastrophic insurance, and the cost was reasonable, especially if you don't go to the doctor every time you get a runny nose. Simply put, no coverage for simple doctor visits, but excellent coverage for big bill items. I never had to use it, but my father had the same coverage and had to get cancer treatments, and all was paid for. Something to look into if you are struggling to find health insurance.

And along similar lines, top story in the Tuesday paper is the success of state casinos. Could it be the case that we have some people spending money in casinos, instead of expenses like health insurance?

Well, if we want well-structured and logic from the Feds, there needs to be a change of about 400 Representatives and Senators.

Insurance Commissioner, Kim Holland, feels there is “broad consensus that reducing the ranks of uninsured will lower costs” but her “personal opinion is that states are in the best position to make those decisions”. My “personal opinion” is that Kim Holland should find another job since Oklahoma ranks in the bottom five for uninsured citizens. Personal “feelings” obviously do not work for health care reform, as Kim Holland has clearly proven. A well-structured plan, based on both logic and quantitative research and administered by the federal government makes much more sense.

I learned a lot by going to www.ehealthinsurance.com and talking to a representative when I had a question. And I had a lot of them.

...cut our insurance 'costs' in half.

On top of that, the Chosen One would tax my policy heavily (if I understand it right) because it is over 8K per year. That said, I am going to a bare bones basic major medical, now that we can qualify, and cut our insurance in half in a few months.

With a federal program, it would be means tested (most everything they try to do is or they want it to be). I do believe there is a need for subsidy and assistance.

Tony, I agree, we are at 13K and that doesn't cover the wife. And most of what we do is out of pocket as the ins companies don't cover it. Which takes me to the next point. Make all provable, actual, medical expenses tax deductble without having to meet a %AGI first.

I have life insurance, car insurance, business insurance, but I simply CAN NOT afford health insurance.
Health insurance for my family would cost 10,800.00 a year.
our average out of pocket health cost year is approx $2,000.00 or less.

So make a plan where people have to carry major medical only. Deal with preexisting condition with that as well. That is where the costs are really paid for by others as well. Then people can add what they want as they feel they need it and can afford it. I'd buy into that in a heartbeat.

People love to tallk the auto mandates as a reason to mandate health insurance. The reality is that the gov't mandates only a portion of car insurance. The only car insurance that is mandated is liability. You do not have to cover yourself or your stuff. You simply have to cover everyone else against damages you and your vehicle might do to them or their stuff.

I was laid off and lost my insurance in 2005. I have pre existing conditions and couldn't buy insurance. I had to get High Risk insurance offered by the state. At that time I paid $250 a month for a single person but it had high deductibles and didn't pay for much. It's a crime for insurance companies to deny people coverage. The insurance companies have made alot of money off the backs of hard working people and when a sick person needs them they turn their backs on you.

If you were without insurance for any reason for any period of time in the 12 months prior to the time of the census, you are counted as without insurance.

Marcus, insurance has been a requirment in Okie Land for years to legally drive motor vehicles, but that doesn't stop a bunch of people here from driving anyway...

And I thought it was required to have health insurance in Massachusetts.
Will this be the case after we all have been required by the feds?

Out of all the uninsured how many drive new cars and fancy dullies and live big fine houses. Which is more imporant your health or your lifestyle? Sure you will take the insurance if some one else pays for it.

This does NOT include Medicaid patients. Or SCHIPS. Or people who don't have time or desire to talk to government employees or contractors wasting our time with useless surveys. I've hung up on three CDC survey-takers in the last month. You wonder why the deficits are so high?

What I see is that my particular company does offer health insurance. But its 1/4th of your pay if you decide to take it. They don't offer any assistance if you wish to take a cheaper option off site. Their are rolling the dice in hoping most employees will NOT take it. The ones who do complain every 2 weeks about the hit they take on their paychecks. The ones who don't complain about taking the kids to the doctor and paying a $400 office visit. The last company I worked for offered both insurance and an op-out payment. You could opt-in for about 1/5th of your paycheck or opt out for a $100 per paycheck allowance. Not sure what you can do with $200 per month but if you are single you can find a good health plan for around $250 to $300 per month.

More news articles about how "recession proof" and " what a cheap cost of living" state okieland is.....

Billy....looks like you're finally getting the picture....okieland and it's people are one giant hypocritical mess...they say how great things are, but in reality the state sucks, the rankings prove the state sucks, and yet the thumpers/zealot right wingers would have the minions and masses believe this is the epitome of what "good living" is all about.

Billy, don't forget 25% of okies drive uninsured either....

I agree 100% B! Hey, at least here in Oklahoma, where 3 out of 4 children don't know who the first president of the US was, and is one of the worse states in obesity, and teen pregnancy, and a state that has a higher percentage of income going to gasoline, and leads in poverty rate, and divorce, and meth labs, and now another top category in uninsured, and one of the top states in bankruptcy per capita,and.........Well you get the point. I'm confused how they seem to think all is well and how we don't need health care reform and how we don't need energy independence, and some other positive things. Good ol' conservative values huh? They applaude people like Jim inhofe and Coburn but hold tea parties in opposition of change and scream insane things at town hall meetings, and claim socialism is taking over, and Marxist this, and Nazi that, and........ Well you get my point. Hey look Oklahoma, we got a "c" in financial stability. Whoopie doo!!! You people make me laugh. The end.