Oklahoma State Senate
Senator Tom Adelson
Senate District 33
Tulsa County

For Immediate Release: April 10, 2006

We Are Not To Gattica Just Yet

Senator Tom Adelson said today that under the guise of Medicaid reform House Republicans wish to take away legal protections for one population group while requiring those protections for everyone else.

“Under state law, private insurance companies must provide coverage for preventive health care their doctors and health care providers say they need,” the Tulsa Democrat said.

For 2005 in Tulsa and Oklahoma County, Medicaid paid for:
• 80,000 children to receive their immunizations;
• Breast cancer treatment for 41,027 women;
• 7,456 mammograms;
• And diabetic supplies for 17,388 Oklahomans

“House Republicans want to deny these health care services to the low and moderate income persons covered under Medicaid,” Adelson said.

Adelson said State Senate Democrats will not permit poor public policy such as this to weaken current law.

“There are some good ideas the House and Senate can work on together – disease management, better utilization of emergency rooms, electronic medical records and nursing home reform,” Adelson said. “But the removal of current mandates is just plain dumb. We are not going to ‘lead, follow or get out of the way’ as the health care experts at the Daily Oklahoman put it. We are going to kill this particular ‘reform’ and gladly.”

For more information contact:
Senator Adelson's Office - (405) 521-5551