The debate in Oklahoma’s U.S. Senate race turned toward health care this week as the Democratic challenger rolled out his plan for reform.

State Sen. Andrew Rice said the need for reform in health care provider and insurance industries “is one of the great moral issues of our time.” Rice, who is challenging Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe for the post, said he would be a leader who will “stand up to the special interests.”

“Every family, every child and every veteran should have access to the same health care options that taxpayers make available to members of Congress,” Rice said. “This practice of profit-first must stop.”

Every Oklahoman, Rice said, should have access to affordable, quality health insurance. He also said health insurance companies must be required to provide payment and care.

A representative of Inhofe’s campaign for re-election said the state’s senior senator has been a longtime advocate of ways to make health care coverage more affordable and accessible. Josh Kivett, campaign manager for Friends of Jim Inhofe Committee, said Inhofe has done that by supporting a consumer-driven health care market, policies that provide consumers with a wide array of choices, and the opportunity for consumers to make their own decisions about what type of health care is needed.

Kivett said that Inhofe’s congressional record shows the senator “has long supported and sponsored legislation to make health care coverage more affordable and accessible.”

“One of Senator Inhofe’s top priorities has been to ensure Congress acts annually to prevent the Medicare reimbursement cuts,” Kivett said. “Senator Inhofe has voted every year since 2002 to prevent these Medicare reimbursement cuts. Unfortunately, this year, election year politics trumped sound policy.”

Rice, in support of his policy proposals, began airing a new television commercial Monday that highlights one of the battles played out this year in the Oklahoma Legislature. Rice backed a bill this past session that would have required insurance companies to pay routine health care costs racked up by patients who take part in clinical trials.

Opponents of the bill said they were concerned it would raise insurance rates for all Oklahomans. Rice said 23 states have laws similar to “Steffanie’s Law,” a bill named after a woman whose family lost their insurance coverage after she was enrolled in a potentially life-saving clinical trial.

Rice health care plan

State Sen. Andrew Rice said his health care plan would:

• Make health insurance affordable for every American.

• Guarantee no one is denied coverage due to pre-existing conditions.