Capitol Corner

by Gus Blackwell, Rep.-61

Speaker Pro-Tempore

 

As I travel the district, people normally ask when the legislature is in session. By law, the legislative session runs from the first Monday in February, at noon, until the last Friday in May, at 5 pm. During the Interim, summer and fall, legislators conduct hearings on various subjects. These can be either in the form of an ongoing task force or of shorter duration which is called an interim study.

 

During session, I am back in the district every week from Thursday night until Monday morning. In the interim, I usually am in Oklahoma City one or two days attending interim studies.

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The rest of the week I am back home, in the district, and going to events in the area. I have the largest district in the House with an area of over 7,000 square miles. This necessitates my being a full time legislator to best serve the people in this district.

This past week, I attended a very crowded on-going interim study on health care in Oklahoma. The Health Care Reform Task Force is looking at current problems in the health care system and ways to improve the system. The study is being chaired by Dr. Doug Cox, who is the state representative from Grove. He is the only medical doctor in the legislature and is an expert in this area. Specifically, they are addressing ways to increase the number of insured Oklahomans in the state.

I attended this meeting because health care is of vital importance to our rural communities. This is especially true for the panhandle area. The hospitals in each county are the virtual lifeblood of the county to help keep economic activity and growth possible.

Oklahoma consistently ranks in the bottom 10 states in health factors, including prevalence of smoking, number of primary care physicians, preventable hospitalizations, cardiovascular deaths and obesity and diabetes rates. Nico Gomez, communications director for the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, said a pending federal waiver to expand the Insure Oklahoma plan may go a long way to getting more Oklahomans affordable health care.

If approved, the federal waiver would allow the premium assistance program to expand private coverage to children up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level; working adults up to 250 percent of the poverty level; employers with up to 250 employees; and college students up to age 23.

The request for a federal waiver stems from a bill that was passed in the 2007 session, which I voted for. It is part of a more broad effort to help our rural hospitals stay open and profitable.

I am at the Capitol during part of the week for meetings and interim studies. You can reach me there at 405-557-7384 or contact me at my home in Goodwell or by e-mail at gusblackwell@okhouse.gov

 

 

 

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