Douglas says NGA will focus on health care

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(Host) Health care will be the special focus of Governor Jim Douglas over the next year as he heads up the National Governors Association.

One of his primary objectives will be protecting states from shouldering too much cost from the initiatives being developed in Congress.

VPR’s Ross Sneyd has more.

(Sneyd) When Governor Douglas took up the gavel as chairman of the Governors Association, he unveiled an initiative he calls "Rx for Health Reform."

The goal, he says, is for the newly crafted health care program to be affordable, accessible and accountable.

But he also said in a conference call from the governors’ meeting in Mississippi that Congress might fail to do anything.

(Douglas) "If something passes, I have no doubt that it’s going to place a significant challenge on all the states across America. … If the Congress does not approve some kind of health reform measure, states have to take the lead. We have to be out in the front of reform efforts to improve the health of the American people."

(Sneyd) The Douglas initiative calls for the governors’ association to coordinate information and then help states implement whatever plan Washington approves.

At the same time, the governors will continue to develop their own proposals, state by state, to drive down costs and drive up the number of people who have health coverage.

While the debate continues to rage in Congress, Douglas says he and his fellow governors will lobby hard to protect their own interests.

States share the cost of the Medicaid health plan for the poor with the federal government. So Douglas says he’s especially concerned about how much the states will be expected to pay under a new system that may rely heavily on Medicaid.

(Douglas) "For the states to be required to assume an unfunded mandate from the federal government is simply unacceptable. So I think that’s the area of major concern among the governors at this point and that’s why we have spoken out as we have."

(Sneyd) That’s also a major concern for state Legislatures across the country. While the governors were meeting in Mississippi, a group of legislators and their staffs were meeting in Philadelphia.

Among them was Steve Klein of the Vermont Legislature’s Joint Fiscal Office.

Klein says lawmakers are doing the same thing as the governors in trying to protect the states.

(Klein) "It’s just that the amount of dollars going into health care in Vermont are so large and other states that very small statutory changes can have huge impacts. … The risks are fairly massive so we just want to be doing what we can to keep Vermont in a good position in this whole discussion."

(Sneyd) Klein says Vermont may be in a good position to influence the final outcome. Governor Douglas now heads the governors’ association. And the congressional delegation serves on committees that are involved in drafting the legislation.

For VPR News, I’m Ross Sneyd.

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