Turner says anti-trans bills could push out physicians

Sam Royka Managing Editor

Anti-trans bills could push away Oklahoma’s physicians, who are already few in rural areas, said Representative Mauree Turner.

“When we deny access to trans healthcare, we deny physicians an opportunity to practice as they are supposed to,” Turner said, “providing the best medical care for Oklahomans.”

Turner brought up a message they received from a future healthcare provider.

“When we saw HB 2177 on the floor, I got a note from a student healthcare provider, a potential healthcare provider for Oklahoma, that said ‘I’m getting ready to finish up my time in university, getting ready to apply for my residency, I can’t get healthcare here, under this legislation, let alone provide the type of healthcare that I want to, and so why would I stay?’” Turner said.

HB 2177 is a bill that would prohibit any kind of gender transition treatment for those under 18 and block public funds from being at all involved with anyone’s transition, minor or adult.

That would block not only state insurance like Medicaid (Soonercare) and Medicare from being used for transition care, but any institution that receives public funding in the state of Oklahoma would be prohibited from providing transition treatment to anyone at all.

HB 2177 passed the House of Representatives Feb. 28, 2023 and now waits to be seen in the senate.

The ACLU has injunctions prepared, which would stop or pause the bill from taking effect should it pass the senate.

Blocking trans healthcare in this way could also have other effects on healthcare and physicians in the state, because “when folks are seeing trans patients it’s not like they’re just seeing trans patients, right? They are seeing everyone,” Turner said. “When we continue to tell folks that have spent the time training, practicing healthcare, when we tell them that legislators that have no medical background know how to do their job, and know what is the best medical care, like what best practice medical care for Oklahomans is, we are telling them that we know their job, and we will tell them how to do their job.”

There was one retirement speech from the last session wherein a retiring representative said he had only knocked seven doors during his 12-year term, and that he was proud of that, Turner said.

“None of the folks down there on the house floor even want to listen to their constituents, which is why Oklahoma is one of the legislatures that doesn’t allow public comment on legislation, they don’t want to be told how to do their jobs,” Turner said, asking “so why would we tell a healthcare provider?”

Another bill that the House saw last year addressed the lack of healthcare providers in rural Oklahoma.

“Because we have so few doctors in rural Oklahoma, we saw a bill that would increase the number of physician’s assistants that are allowed to practice under the supervision of one physician,” Turner said. “Usually, they are getting supervised by a doctor who either doesn’t live in their town, and some of them, if I remember correctly, some of them are being supervised by healthcare providers who live in our metropolitan areas, right? Like Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and Nor- man as it continues to expand.”

As of January, a group of Oklahoman Physician Assistants are suing the state in response to new administrative regulations on Schedule II to V drugs prescribed by PAs, saying that the new rules make it so that they are unable to care for their patients.

In their press release, the group states the same need for proper care that Turner describes.

“Oklahomans are in dire need of access to healthcare, especially in our State’s rural communities,” it said.

Turner wants to create safety in Oklahoma for those in the medical field as well as their patients.

They report that currently, that is not the case.

“One, we are not creating a safe environment for folks to practice as they’re supposed to, we are creating more laws that make healthcare providers afraid to practice in Oklahoma. Two, when we say you don’t actually know how to care for your patients, I do, with no medical background, why would somebody wanna work there?” they asked. “It’s almost like cutting off your own nose to spite your face.”

“People need healthcare, especially in rural Oklahoma, which has been identified as one of the highest rates in the nation for HIV,” they said.

“Folks need access to more healthcare, not less, and I hope that folks can latch onto that part. When we say no trans healthcare, we say no healthcare for Oklahomans, and we need healthcare for Oklahomans,” Turner said.

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