Senator Andrew Rice, D-Oklahoma City, is out with a blast at the State Chamber of Commerce and Republicans in the Legislature.
Rice, candidate for the U. S. Senate, says that a recent State Chamber of Commerce memo to members of the Legislature exaggerates the cost of legislative mandates for insurance coverage, Rice said today.
“The truest statement in this memo is that the cost of health insurance continues to spiral upward,” Rice said. “However, the Chamber offers no proof that insurance mandates are among the reasons why.”
Rice is Senate co-author of “Steffanie’s Law,” legislation to require private insurance companies in Oklahoma to continue coverage of routine medical care costs even after a cancer patient enrolls in experimental clinical trials. The bill was inspired by the late Steffanie Collings, who recently died at the age of 18 after fighting brain cancer for four years.
Collings’ parents are now strapped with over $450,000 in unpaid medical bills because the family’s insurance company disqualified Steffanie from coverage after she participated in clinical trials to find a possible cure.
“Republican leaders in the House of Representatives and their allies in the insurance industry continue to make insurance mandates the fall guy for rising health care costs,” Rice said.
“However, research by the American Cancer Society shows that there is very little difference in the cost of routine medical care for patients in clinical trials and patients who do not participate.”
Labels: Andrew Rice, State Chamber of Commerce, Steffanie's Law
