Kevin Stitt’s quest to make sure everyone hates him is going along well!
Earlier this week, the Oklahoma House and Senate overwhelmingly passed HB 1389 by a combined 129–9 margin.
A rare piece of bipartisan Oklahoma legislation that would help people of all income brackets get better access to life-saving healthcare, the bill required insurance companies to cover an expanded scope of mammograms and other breast cancer diagnostic procedures. So naturally, when it arrived on Stitt’s desk, he vetoed it:
Via KOKH:
House Bill 1389, a bill to expand the language used in the list of what a diagnostic examination for breast cancer may include, was vetoed by Governor Kevin Stitt.
The bill would add contrast-enhanced mammograms and molecular breast imaging to the diagnostic examination list.
Yikes.
Not content with taking on firefighters, school teachers, the National Guard, the Oklahoma State Medical Association, and other popular groups, Stitt has now turned his strange culture war fight toward breast cancer testing.
Stupid or not, that fight takes some balls!
Seriously, no offense to the ALS and pediatric cancer groups out there, but the breast cancer awareness industrial complex is probably the most powerful medical demographic out there!
From getting football players to wear pink cleats to convincing out-of-shape people to run in 5Ks and deduct donations from their paycheck, it’s a well-oiled, pink-washed PR machine that’s ensured every American—me included—supports the fight to end breast cancer, fund research, improve testing, and help save the lives of mothers, daughters, and sisters everywhere.
Well, I guess that’s everyone except Kevin Stitt.
His office issued a statement, and he’s more concerned about protecting insurance companies from his dogmatic boogeyman—the government.
❌GOVERNOR VETO ❌Rep. Melissa Provenzano, who recently was diagnosed with breast cancer, helped pass HB 1389, which would require mammograms and other early diagnostic breast cancer screenings to be covered by health insurance. @GovStitt gave this explanation for his veto...🧵 pic.twitter.com/Lvegzj5oDD
— Wendy Suares📺 (@wsuares) May 7, 2025
Yep, that’s right. Kevin Stitt is taking the insurance companies' side in the fight against breast cancer screenings.
How “pro-life” of him, huh?
Although it’s an unpopular and dumb decision, I guess I can see where Stitt is coming from.
Despite early detection and better testing helping to reduce long-term treatment costs and improve survival rates—and even though the insurance industry has long been under government regulation and is already required to provide coverage for a variety of conditions—the burdensome regulation of covering cancer screenings is expensive, and that cost would be passed on to consumers.
Which, uhm, I guess is fine with me!
I’m not a wealthy mega-millionaire banking bubba who was banned from doing business in Georgia, but I already pay too much for health insurance, so what’s wrong with tacking on a few more bucks to help improve cancer screening access for Oklahoma women? The last thing I’d want is for those poor insurance companies to pay for it by reducing stockholder dividends and executive compensation. Just think of all the families who would be affected by a tragedy like that!
Anyway, the pink lining in all this is that the measure sailed through the House and Senate by over a 90% margin, with only the “pro-life” Derpalahoman brigade voting against it. That means, in all likelihood, the House and Senate can override the veto and actually do something meaningful and beneficial for Oklahomans.
It will be intersting to see how they screw that up.
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We’ll keep you advised.
