State Officials To Host Town Hall Health Care Forum

Three area state representatives will hold a town hall meeting on heath care in Broken Arrow.

The forum is sponsored by State Sen. Bill Brown and state Reps. Mike Ritze, D.O., and John Trebilcock . The meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 29 at Arrow Heights Baptist Church, 3201 S. Elm Place in Broken Arrow.

 “Senator Brown, Representative Trebilcock and I will be presenting a discussion of the health care issues at stake under the ObamaCare plan,” Ritze, R-Broken Arrow, said. “As a physician, I am aware of many of the problems in our health care system, but at the same time believe the federal approach being sought will only exacerbate current problems and will create an undeniable tax burden for future generations.”

Ritze said that he will be looking not only to critique the proposed federal plan, but also offer some alternative solutions.

 “There are laws that get in the way of competition between health care providers and it is also important to address the portability of health care from job to job,” Ritze said. “I believe there are zero-cost solutions to many of our health care problems, and I will be presenting those as well.”

 Brown, R-Broken Arrow, is the chairman of the Senate Retirement and Insurance Committee. He said that not only is the federal plan folly, but that it will be hard to reverse.

 “The plan will take billions of dollars out of Medicare and raise taxes considerably,” Brown said. “We won’t be able to get that money back. Not only that, but as many of my constituents know, once the government gets involved in a particular industry, it’s hard to get them back out.”

 Trebilcock, R-Broken Arrow, is the chairman of the House Public Health Committee.

 “It’s important to talk with constituents about important issues,” Trebilcock said. “Health care is a very worthy topic and I look forward to offering my own perspective on the problems with the ObamaCare plan.”