Calls Needed For Health Care Freedom in Ohio!

Passing out of the Ohio House in October 2015, the Health Care Compact (HB 34) has a new life and making an end of session comeback to put Ohio back in charge of our own healthcare destiny.

The Health Care Compact legislation can be one of the most powerful and one of the most important bills that can pass this legislative session. The Health Care Compact would empowere member states with the legislative and fiscal freedom to make health care truly reflective of the health care needs of their state and not a costly one-size-fits-all federal health care program (Affordable Care Act) that has proven to be a failure.

The Ohio Senate Government Oversight & Reform Committee is holding hearings on the Health Care Compact (HB 34) today and tomorrow. To read the text of HB 34, click here. To read the Legislative Services analysis of HB 34, click here.


Already passed in 9 states, in line with health care freedom Ohioans have been fighting for and looked at favorably by the incoming Trump Administration, more and more the Health Care Compact is becoming the clear solution to Obamacare....

Obamacare is dead.  Long live ... what?  That is unclear.  "Vice President-elect Mike Pence said Tuesday that repealing and replacing ObamaCare would be the first item on President-elect Donald Trump's agenda," according to Fox News.  Its successor will emerge from a series of discussions soon to take place.  "It’ll be the first thing out of the gate. ... He wants the Congress when they convene in early January to take up the task of repealing and replacing ObamaCare first."

One of the possible replacements could be the Health Care Compact if only because the list of those who supported H.J.Res.50 reads like a Who's Who in the incoming administration.

• Indiana (home to VP-elect Pence)


• Alabama (AG-nominee Sessions)


• Georgia (HHS nominee Price)


• Texas (endorsed by Sen. John Cornyn)


• Kansas (proposed and endorsed by Rep. Pompeo and Sec. of State Kris Kobach)


• Oklahoma (endorsed by Sen. James Lankford)

The program that Mother Jones once derided as "a longshot" and pipe-dream of a delusional Tea Party has now come within measurable distance of becoming a serious contender to replace Obamacare.

HHS nominee Tom Price's rhetoric suggests he would have no objections in principle to  taking Washington out of the picture. In a quote cited by the Wall Street Journal Price said:  “We think it’s important that Washington not be in charge of health care,” the six-term congressman said in an interview this summer. “The problem that I have with Obamacare is that its premise is that Washington knows best.”

Congressman Price supporting the Health Care Compact, which utilizes block grants for the states and is a state based solution, is consistent with the incoming strategy of Trump & Pence as noted below....

Trump and Pence reissued their calls to eliminate barriers to encourage competition between health insurers across state lines, make it easier for Americans to open health savings accounts and block grant Medicaid funds to the states

Please contact the below GOP members of the Senate Government Oversight &Reform Committee and respectfully request that they support the Health Care Compact (HB 34) and put Ohioans in charge of their own health care destiny.


Senate Government Oversight & Reform Committee
State Senator Bill Coley (R) Chair
PH: (614) 466-8072
Email: Click Here


State Senator Bill Seitz (R) Vice-Chair
PH: (614) 466-8068
Email: Click Here


State Senator Troy Balderson (R)
PH: (614) 466-8076
Email: Click Here


State Senator Dave Burke (R)
PH: (614) 466-8049
Email: Click Here


State Senator Kris Jordan (R)
PH: (614) 466-8086
Email: Click Here


State Senator Frank LaRose (R)
PH: (614) 466-4823
Email: Click Here


State Senator Larry Obhof (R)
PH: (614) 466-7505
Email: Click Here


State Senator Tom Patton (R)
PH: (614) 466-8056
Email: Click Here 


State Senator Bob Peterson (R)
PH: (614) 466-8156
Email: Click Here

ALERT! Ohio Health Care Compact coming up again in Ohio Senate Committee!

Late last week, Cleveland Tea Party blogged about the re-emergence of the Health Care Compact as a key part of the solution in rolling back Obamacare. Rep. Tom Price,M.D. (R-GA) is President-Elect Trump’s nominee to head up Health and Human Services, and Price is a longtime advocate of the Health Care Compact.

Last year, the Ohio House passed the Ohio Health Care Compact, and then the bill stalled. It was supposed to come to a vote in the Senate but nothing happened. However, with the incoming administration and Rep. Price’s upcoming nomination, something is percolating in Columbus. The Senate Committee is finally planning to reconsider the bill (and hopefully get the bill passed out of Committee for a vote).

The committee reviewing the legislation is the Government Oversight and Reform, and that committee website is here.

At this link, you can access the Chair, Sen. Bill Coley (R); Vice-Chair Bill Seitz (R); and Ranking Minority Member Kenny Yuko (D). You can access these and the rest of the members of the Committee by phone or by email. Urge them to support the Ohio Health Care Compact (HB 34); if you are emailing, just click on the committee member's picture to access the "contact" options, then choose the health-related drop-down subject line and type in that you support putting the Ohio Health Care Compact before the full Senate. That’ll take a few seconds. And if you have a little bit more time, call or email them to let them know WHY you support it.

If you previously submitted proponent testimony in support of the Ohio Health Care Compact in 2014 or 2015, this is the time to update your testimony and resubmit it directly to Chair, Sen. Bill Coley. Or write up a few paragraphs now and email the Chair. 

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