Governors have tools to cut health care costs, Leavitt says

By Lisa Riley Roche

June 29th, 2013 @ 4:47pm

DEER VALLEY There's plenty that states can do to steer the direction of health care reform, former Utah governor and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt told the Western Governors Association Saturday.

"States have far more influence than one would initially think on solving the problems of health care in the country," Leavitt said, despite the focus on the federal Affordable Care Act, widely known as Obamacare.

Leavitt, now the chairman of a Utah-based health care consulting firm, said while overseeing the world's largest health care payer under President George W. Bush, he quickly realized he had more power as a governor to make changes easily.

States, Leavitt said, have control over health care in a number of areas, including managing plans for state workers, administering Medicaid, governing the practices of medical professionals and regulating insurance.

Governors can use those tools to help control health care costs, he said. "Frankly, governors have the tools to accomplish that tools that the federal government pretends to have but simply does not," Leavitt said.

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert pointed out during the panel discussion at the association's annual meeting that governors had no role in developing the nation's new health care reform law championed by President Barack Obama.

"We've been so ignored," Herbert said. "I think we could have made it better."

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Governors have tools to cut health care costs, Leavitt says