Oklahoma U.S. Sens. Jim Inhofe and James Lankford sounded circumspect Thursday in their assessments of the Senate health care proposal drafted by 13 of their fellow Republicans.
“Put me down as a solid undecided,” Lankford said in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper.
Earlier, in a joint written statement, Inhofe and Lankford roundly criticized existing conditions under the Affordable Care Act and concluded with promises to give Thursday’s draft legislation a close look.
“I am continuing to review the details of the bill text released today and look forward to working with my colleagues in the coming days to address the crisis of Obamacare,” Inhofe said.
“Congress should pass a bill that provides a smooth transition from the Affordable Care Act to a better system that provides more affordable coverage options for everyone, with the goal in mind of doing no harm to current enrollees,” Lankford said in the statement.
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“In the days ahead, I will analyze this health care working draft to ensure that it is affordable and practical for Oklahomans of all socioeconomic levels and all health conditions.”
Inhofe and Lankford said individual insurance markets are “collapsing” because of the Affordable Care Act, creating an untenable situation for those not covered by group health insurance, Medicaid or Medicare.
In the CNN interview, Lankford said he has identified “six areas” of concern.
“None of those are showstoppers,” he said, “but things (that) are problems we need to fix before we get this into law.”
Lankford said he did not yet want to “get into” what those six areas are.
