Oklahoma blames Trump admin for higher premiums
Source: The Hill
The state of Oklahoma is blaming the Trump administration for rising health care premiums in the state after the administration missed a deadline to approve a key waiver for the state under ObamaCare.
In a letter addressed to Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin and Health And Human Services Secretary Tom Price, Oklahoma's Commissioner of Health rips the administration for missing a final deadline for a State Innovation Waiver, which would be used to lower premiums around the state.
These waiver provide federal funds "to implement innovative ways to provide access to quality health care that is at least as comprehensive and affordable as would be provided absent the waiver," according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
"After months of development, negotiation, and near-daily communication over the past six weeks, the State and your departments agreed that waiver approval must be received no later than September 25, 2017," the letter from Oklahoma's Commissioner of Health Terry Cline reads.
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Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/353205-oklahoma-blames-trump-admin-for-higher-premiums
This is an administration of saboteurs.
And they're NOT "deconstructing" the government, the ludicrous term Steve Bannon came up with.
They're sabotaging our government, our democracy, our country, and our world.
And, in this particular case, they're sabotaging the health and well-being of countrless Americans who need health insurance. And they're doing it quite deliberately and cruelly.
And it's reached a point where it's very clear, even in red states like Oklahoma, that this administration does not care about the people it's supposed to be serving.
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We rejected the Medicaid expansion, and the only reason the legislature is screaming is because they won't raise taxes on the oil and gas industry.
We have teachers leaving the state because they haven't had a raise in years, state workers haven't had a pay raise in ten years, schools going to 4-day weeks because they can't afford a full week, state parks closed, health and human services have taken a huge cut, many counties lost their health departments...I could go on and on. All because the oil and gas industry runs the show in Oklahoma.
The legislature was called into special session this week to try to resolve the hundreds of millions of dollars in budget deficit, and the only thing they have on the table is to put a huge tax on cigarette sales, which they passed during the regular session earlier this year. It was ruled unconstitutional by the courts, so of course they're going to try it again. They were in session three times this week for a total of 30 minutes, and then adjourned, and they haven't accomplished a thing. But they're still working on it! 
The biggest income increase voted in this year was a 1.25 percent tax on car sales. So that's extra money you have to pay up front when you buy a car. Who does that hit the hardest? The poor and lower middle class. 
Our R governor (never look her in the eyes--she's an empty, air-headed zombie) is now refusing to sign any more budget cuts--but she should have been saying that months ago. Our prison system is bulging at the seams because we have so many inmates to house, and she's running around the country talking about prison reform. I don't think she even knows what "reform" means.
And yet, we had, what, four? legislators resign for various reasons this year, mostly because of corruption or breaking the law. The latest was a good Christian, family-man R who was arrested for advertising for gay sex online and being caught in a hotel room with a minor boy. All that results in more state money being paid out for special elections.
It's all a big dog and pony show at the Oklahoma capitol. Sometimes you get what you paid for.... 
Back to Democrat Montana. Now my beloved state is heading down the same path as OK and KS.
I'm so very sorry for all of us. I blame right wing radio. That is all rural states had to listen to.
is all that matters to dump. Killing off Americans to get revenge on the black guy doesn't matter at all to him.
What a disgusting excuse for a human being.
Congrats, morans, for electing a sociopath with NO redeeming qualities to the highest office in the land.
