October 02, 2009
Democratic Governors write Congress to urge health reform
Twenty-two Democratic governors sent a letter to Congressional leadership yesterday, urging them to move forward with health reform because the status quo is unsustainable.
Text of the letter is below.
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October 1, 2009
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi The Honorable Harry Reid
Speaker Majority Leader
U.S. House of Representatives United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20515 Washington, D.C. 20515
The Honorable John Boehner The Honorable Mitch McConnell
Minority Leader Minority Leader
U.S. House of Representatives Unites States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20515 Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Reid, Minority Leader McConnell and Minority Leader Boehner:
We are writing to express our support for your efforts to reform our nation’s health care system. As the chief executives of our states and territories, we realize that the status quo is no longer an option and we support getting health reform done this year.
Sky-rocketing health care costs hurt families, force businesses to cut or drop health benefits and cause already strained state budget deficits to significantly grow. We believe reform can relieve these burdens by reining in costs and making coverage more affordable, both for our citizens and our state budgets.
Efforts at the federal level, like the recent and critical investments through the Recovery Act that support states’ HIT and prevention initiatives, are beginning to work to lower health care costs. Our citizens and our states, however, will only achieve the health care security and stability they need if we succeed in working together with the Congress and the President to achieve health care reform.
We commend you and your colleagues for provisions included in your bills that will help states and territories. Many of the provisions will allow states and territories to achieve long term savings and help cover those who currently go without coverage. We recognize that health reform is a shared responsibility and everyone, including state governments, needs to partner to reform our broken health care system.
We thank you for your leadership in this historic effort and look forward to continuing to work together to get health reform passed this year.
Sincerely,
Governor Jennifer M. Granholm Governor John Baldacci
Michigan Maine
Governor Theodore R. Kulongoski Governor Pat Quinn
Oregon Illinois
Governor John P. deJongh Governor Mark Parkinson
Virgin Islands Kansas
Governor Timothy M. Kaine Governor Martin O’Malley
Virginia Maryland
Governor Christine O. Gregoire Governor Steven L. Beshear
Washington Kentucky
Governor Jim Doyle Governor David A. Paterson
Wisconsin New York
Governor Chester J. Culver Governor Bill Ritter
Iowa Colorado
Governor Jack Markell Governor Joe Manchin III
Delaware West Virginia
Governor Bill Richardson Governor Jon S. Corzine
New Mexico New Jersey
Governor Deval Patrick Governor Ted Strickland
Massachusetts Ohio
Governor Edward G. Rendell Governor Brian Schweitzer
Pennsylvania Montana
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