Oklahoma Fights Obamacare Mandates

The Internal Revenue Service flatly ignored Oklahoma’s “sovereign choice” to reject a key portion of President Obama’s health care law, exposing the state to burdensome penalties despite its willful strategy to avoid the sanctions by following the letter of the law, the state’s top lawyer said in court papers filed Friday.

Oklahoma Attorney General E. Scott Pruitt’s filing is the latest salvo in his fight against a rule the IRS issued in May to ensure that tax credits will be available to persons who buy insurance through state-run insurance markets, or “exchanges,” as well as states that opted for federally run exchange under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010.

Mr. Pruitt and other critics contend the law clearly says the tax credits were intended for exchanges set up by the states and don’t apply to federally run exchanges. But if the government cannot pay out subsidies in the latter states, it makes the president’s health care plan much less appealing.
More