Statement: Lawsuit threatens health care for working Oklahomans

Oklahoma Policy Institute issued the following statement in response to a court ruling that threatens to strike down tax credits that reduce the cost of insurance on healthcare.gov:

The D.C. Circuit Court ruling threatens to take away much-needed financial support to buy health insurance for more than 55,000 working Oklahomans. The ruling comes in a case similar to one filed by Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, who is using Oklahoma taxpayer resources in an attempt to deny Oklahomans tax credits for purchasing health care. State leaders are trying to block these tax credits even as they shift more of our citizens onto the federal marketplace by downsizing Insure Oklahoma.

Today another federal court upheld the tax credits, and they will continue to be available pending appeals. With hundreds of thousands of Oklahomans still unable to afford health care, our state leaders should not be fighting to make the number of uninsured even larger.