Filed by Ben Allen in Feature.
November 19, 2012

Oklahoma will not put together it’s own health care exchange, Governor Mary Fallin announced Monday. An exchange is required under the Affordable Care Act, also known as “ObamaCare”.

“It does not benefit Oklahoma taxpayers to actively support and fund a new government program that will ultimately be under the control of the federal government, that is opposed by a clear majority of Oklahomans, and that will further the implementation of a law that threatens to erode both the quality of American health care and the fiscal stability of the nation,” said Governor Fallin in a statement.

The federal government now has the option to impose it’s own health care exchange in Oklahoma. The state could still collaborate with the federal government, if it chooses.

Governor Fallin, in 2011, turned down $54 million to go towards constructing an exchange. She had initially accepted that money, but sent it back after some lawmakers pressured her.

When turning down the money, she called a state run exchange “good public policy”, adding that the state could develop a better solution than others.

An exchange is meant to serve as the place for consumers to buy health insurance on the open market. Already, Texas, Missouri, Kansas, and Louisiana, among others, have rejected a state-run health care exchange.