From NewsOK:

A legislative task force created to review health insurance mandates plans to review only the 38 existing health coverage requirements in Oklahoma. No new or proposed coverage requirements will be discussed, the group’s chairman said.

Sen. Cliff Branan, R-Oklahoma City, chairman of the task force, which met for the first time Tuesday, said the group will focus on determining whether existing health insurance mandates were accomplishing their goals. Legislation authored by Branan last session created the task force.

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From The Tulsa World:

U.S. Rep. John Sullivan said Wednesday that he paid for his stay at the Betty Ford Center himself because his health insurer hasn’t paid the bill.

“I’m trying to get them to, but they haven’t I paid that myself they didn’t pay it,” the 1st District Republican said, “so, I’m having those (health-care) challenges just like everyone else.”

Sullivan made his remarks during a question-and-answer session that followed his speech at a Greater Tulsa Hispanic Chamber of Commerce luncheon.

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From NewsOK:

A national report that swine flu could strike up to half of Americans is a wake-up call for Oklahomans to take preventive measures and plan for disruptions, state health officials said.

“We want them to sit up and take notice,” said state epidemiologist Dr. Kristy Bradley of estimates that the virus could cause symptoms in up to 120 million people and cause as many as 90,000 deaths in the United States. “This is a serious situation potentially. It’s such a new strain of the flu that everyone is considered susceptible.”

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From The Journal Record:

To some, a measure before Congress that would require companies with 15 or more employees to provide workers with seven days of paid sick leave per year is a matter of equity for working people. To others, it’s another example of government interference in business.

Advocate Jean Warner, with the Oklahoma Women’s Network, said Tuesday that the Healthy Families Act would provide a bit of a safety net for lower-paid workers, many of them women at the margins of society trying to keep a valued job when they fall ill.

“We know that many women who are in the work force are one automobile breakdown or one kid-with-the-mumps away from losing their job,” Warner said. “If they don’t have family-leave rights or sick-leave rights, they’re just hanging on the edge of holding onto a job.”

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From The Tulsa World:

Direct involvement by President Barack Obama is the only way to forge a bipartisan health-care bill, U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn said Thursday.

“What needs to happen is for the president to sit down with some of us and say ‘I’m going to write a bill and send it to Congress,’ ” Coburn said during a town hall meeting at Bristow. “That’s what has to happen. If we do that, we’ll get a good bill.”

Such a scenario might give Coburn, who counts Obama as a friend despite their different political views, more influence on the process. One of two physicians in the Senate, Coburn has been unable to make much headway with his proposal to expand health insurance coverage by subsidizing private policies through refundable tax credits.

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