Senator Gumm Earns "Ten Best" Honor
June 10th, 2010
This the second time in the last three years Gumm, a Democrat from Durant, has made the bipartisan list of five senators who “seized the day, standing tall.” The narrative for the senator pointed to his fight to end insurance discrimination against children with autism. Gumm has worked to require health insurance to cover diagnosis and treatment of autism in children.
While that bill – known as “Nick’s Law” – has repeatedly fallen victim to partisan politics, the “Observer” noted that Gumm quietly won a hard-fought victory in his struggle to help children with autism. Many health insurance companies denied claims for children with autism suffering from illnesses or injuries that have nothing to do with the disorder.
The senator amended on the Senate floor a bill to include a provision that would require health insurance companies to cover for children with autism the same illnesses and injuries they cover for children who are not diagnosed with autism. The bill eventually was signed into law.
The narrative about Gumm concludes by saying, “Thanks to him insurance companies will now cover an autistic person’s other health care needs.” This is not the first newspaper to take notice of Gumm’s work. “The Tulsa World” in an editorial published earlier this year reported “Gumm never gave up and never gave in” and called enactment of the senator’s amendment as “one of the Oklahoma Legislature’s finest hours.”
Gumm said while he appreciates the media taking notice of his work on behalf of the people, he is most grateful to the people of Senate District 6 for allowing him to fight for the issues important to the area in the Oklahoma Senate.
“Without the strong support of my family and the people I serve, none of this work could happen,” Gumm said. “Still, our work is not yet complete. I look forward to continuing our struggle to pass ‘Nick’s Law,’ and our efforts on a host of other issues important to the people I serve.
“We must always remember, as President Kennedy said, ‘Here on earth, God’s work must surely be our own’.”
Each June, “The Oklahoma Observer” ranks the five best and the five worst performances in the Senate and the five best and worst in the House of Representatives. The determination is made by the paper’s founding editor, Frosty Troy, and its editor, Arnold Hamilton. “The Oklahoma Observer” is published twice monthly; the publication bills itself as “An Independent Journal of Commentary.”