State Attorney General Scott Pruitt says he is disappointed the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the individual mandate in President Obama's health care reform law. He says it's disturbing the Court did not place a limit on the power of the federal government to control the lives of Americans. "But the battle is not over," he said. "It is now up to the political process to repeal the act and replace it with measures that address the health care crisis within the confines of the Constitution. We must continue to oppose this act and multiple overreaching regulations proposed by the Obama Administration that cross the line of federal power." Pruitt attended today's court session of the U.S. Supreme Court.

A spokesman for Oklahoma U.S. Senator Tom Coburn says Coburn will be reviewing the ruling and will respond with an updated plan to repeal and replace what he calls this unworkable law. "The Court affirmed Congress' power to tax people if they don't eat their broccoli," said spokesman John Hart. "Now it's up to the American people to decide whether they will tolerate this obscene abuse of individual liberty."

Republican State Rep. Mike Ritze of Broken Arrow says he will continue efforts to pass legislation in Oklahoma to nullify the law in our state. "Although most Americans want to see our health care system improved, they do not want the government to take it over or to make important decisions for them," he said.  "There is a conservative approach to fixing the system, which is to remove the government intervention already in place that has kept it from being a truly free market system." Ritze is a board-certified family practice physician and surgeon.