The Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs is a state-based think tank that champions free market ideas. This is the outfit that produces the incredibly inconvenient research and data that cannot be ignored by the typical legislator or state employee. There is no lobby strong enough to intimidate this group including the government education lobby. They have been very supportive of free markets in health care and this blog and our surgery center, in particular.
They have recently taken on Medicaid. They have challenged the notion that cost-shifting as a result of underpayment by the uninsured or underinsured is a significant problem and have once again produced objective data that shows that this is a myth. They are also not fans (as you would suspect) of the provider tax that just passed. OCPA is not on a path to popularity. They are finding facts and doing real policy research and calling it as they see it. As Walter Williams once said,…”that won’t get you invited to very many government garden parties.”
It is not everyday that principle trumps expediency in life or in print. Hat’s off to the crew at OCPA! Keep up the good work.
G. Keith Smith, M.D.
