A Bit Of Good News From The OCPA

A Bit Of Good News From The OCPA

TRANSCRIPT: Hello. Dr. Keith smith with you again, coming to you from the Surgery Center of Oklahoma. Thank you for joining us in this video blog series.

There are lots of exciting things happening here at the Surgery Center and here in the state of Oklahoma and I’d like to pass one of the most exciting yet that has happened and give credit to those who, behind the scenes, have done so much to make this latest development come true.

First, I’d like to note that for 6 years now, we’ve had our prices online and we’ve had arrangements with individuals, with companies, with self-funded plans and we’ve saved people a lot of money over this period of time. It seemed that we got the most traction, though, in terms of the attention we were gaining, when we actually made a contract with a public entity – the County of Oklahoma County.

You know, when the taxpayers save money, that’s really a big deal. If a private business saves money, that’s not really as newsworthy. Well, the word got out that we had saved the county – Oklahoma County’s health plan, which is self-funded, a little over a million dollars in a very short, 9-month period. And people started looking at this at the state level. The Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPAthink.org) is an organization, whether you live in Oklahoma or not, I would encourage you to check out, and I would encourage you to seriously consider donating to their cause.

These are people that are in the trenches, that are liberty lovers, and they’re trying to deal with policy issues that will leave us more free. The vast majority of the time, this won’t surprise you – this involves getting rid of legislation that has prohibited us from being free.

The exciting development I want to talk to you about is just such a thing. There was legislation that was attached to the State of Oklahoma state employees health plan that prevented them from dealing with outfits like mine – the Surgery Center of Oklahoma – directly. From going to get direct pricing and contracts.

The OCPA was successful in removing these eliminations with legislation. This was a huge undertaking and they deserve all the credit for this move. It is expected to potentially save the state of Oklahoma 95 million dollars.

One of reasons that I’m bringing this to your attention is that all eyes have been on this effort by OCPA. Many people wrongly have associated this effort with me, or with the Surgery Center of Oklahoma. But it really is Michael Carnuccio, Brandon Dutcher, my friend Jonathan Small and all the staff at OCPA that have been behind this effort.

It is not likely that surrounding states or other states, when they see the millions and tens of millions of dollars of savings that result, that they will be able to resist making a similar move. Congratulations to our friends at the OCPA. I would encourage you to check out their website, OCPAthink.org, and consider donating to their liberty-loving cause.

Thank you for joining us. We’ll see you next time.