The federal government doesn’t like being told, “No.” If states try to  nullify some unconstitutional federal mandate like Obamacare, the feds will  first ignore them and try to force the mandate onto the state as planned, hoping  that the state will just give up and comply. After all, the states are no match  for the mighty feds, and as we all know, might makes right, so the states just  need to stop their griping and complaining and fall in line like sheep to the  slaughter to bow down to their federal overlords.

This is what the Obama administration hopes to get out of Oklahoma. As we posted  recently, the Oklahoma House had passed a law that prohibited the Obamacare  mandate from being implemented in the state of Oklahoma. It hasn’t been signed  by the Governor, but if it is, the Obama administration will ignore it and  continue to enforce their “one-size-fits-all” healthcare plan on every state  including Oklahoma.

Oklahoma’s Insurance Commissioner John Doak has already gotten notification  from the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO), a  division of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service (CMS), stating that  the federal government will proceed to take over the insurance industry in  Oklahoma as planned, regardless of any state laws that contest it.

However, in a press  release, Insurance Commissioner Doak stated that he won’t be giving up just  yet:

“Oklahoma Insurance Department will not be  participating in a collaborative effort with the Center for Consumer Information  and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO) to enforce the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The  Oklahoma Insurance Department regulates the health insurance policies sold in  the state and responds to consumer questions and complaints. Our consumer  assistance team receives over 30,000 phone calls, and our website receives over  1,000,000 visits each year. We will continue to serve these consumers by  adhering to our duties under the State Constitution and Statutes. The consumers  are the ones who are going to bear the costs of these unnecessary federal  regulatory burdens. In addition to adding new fees to health insurance products  that will increase prices both inside and outside the exchange, the ACA requires  plans to add expensive and often unnecessary coverage benefits. These costs will  impact young adults most severely due to the law’s requirement that older  Americans pay no more than three times the premium of young adults. A survey of  insurers by the American Action Forum found that average premiums for young,  healthy adults may triple going into 2014.”

 He’s not saying that the Affordable Care Act will make health care  unaffordable just because he doesn’t like the Obama administration. Even the  Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen  Sebelius admitted that insurance premiums are going to have to go up under  Obama’s mandate, but that it’s OK because people are “really going to see much  better benefit for the money that they’re spending.”

I hope Oklahoma doesn’t back down. I just wish they had left those provisions  in their nullification bill that would have required jailing any federal agents  that attempted to enforce Obamacare on Oklahoma.