Letter to Congressional Leaders Pelosi, Reid, McConnell,and Boehner

Letter

Gov. Ritter Joins Other Governors Supporting Nat'l Health Reform

In a letter to congressional leadership, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter and 21 other governors are urging federal lawmakers to adopt national health reform legislation before the end of the year to provide families and businesses with much-needed security and stability.

"We commend you and your colleagues for provisions included in your bills that will help states and territories," the governors wrote to congressional leaders yesterday. "Many of the provisions will allow states and territories to achieve long term savings and help cover those who currently go without health 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."

Since Gov. Ritter took office, Colorado has become a national leader in tackling the cost, quality and access challenges that plague the health system. Earlier this year, Gov. Ritter initiated and signed into law the Colorado Healthcare Affordability Act, which will address cost-shifting and the cost of uncompensated care, and provide healthcare coverage to 100,000 uninsured Coloradans at no additional cost to taxpayers or employers.

"Colorado has moved aggressively to contain costs, improve quality and expand healthcare availability," Gov. Ritter said. "But we need our federal partners to step up so that we can continue making meaningful progress. The status quo is simply unacceptable, and the cost of inaction is too high for working families and small businesses."

Here is the complete text of the governors' letter:

October 1, 2009

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 the 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 health 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,

22 Governors