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Western Governors’ Association discusses health care policy

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PARK CITY, Utah It was a working weekend for members of the Western Governors Association in Park City.

The group of governors met Saturday morning, and they discussed health care reforms and their challenges implementing changes mandated by federal law.

Gov. Gary Herbert, R-Utah, lead a roundtable discussion regarding health care, which was attended by several governors from neighboring states as well as former Utah Gov. and Health Secretary Mike Leavitt.

Leavitt said there are a variety of concerns regarding the issue.

The pressure were feeling isnt just about the Affordable Care Act, he said. Its about our overall healthcare system.

Several of the governors who attended expressed their frustration about implementing federal health care law. In Utah alone, it is estimated the cost of the expansion will be $3.2 billion during the next 10 years.

I think most of us as Governors dont like the fact that its a one-size-fits-all approach, Herbert said. There needs to be more flexibility given to states.

Herbert said the meeting will help change policy on health care.

Well learn from each other, he said. Well learn from successes. Well learn from our failures, and eventually out of this will emerge a new system of healthcare.

The members of the Western Governors Association are mostly Republicans, but two democrats were on Saturdays panel: Gov. Steve Bullock of Montana and Gov. John Hickenlooper of Colorado. They said implementing health care reform may cost states more money up front, but they said it is a solid investment in Americas future.

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Western Governors’ Association discusses health care policy

Better mental health care tops county focus list

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By Joe Benedict

MVM NEWS NETWORK

DONNELLSON A group of health care professionals, law enforcement officials, doctors and general public gathered in Donnellson on Thursday to review the direction healthcare is going in Lee County and to decide what the most pressing issues in that field are for the county.

Vince Vandehaar of VVV Marketing and Development, Inc. of the Kansas City area was the consultant leading the town hall meeting.

He showed the group a number of statistics that indicate Lee County is not sitting well compared to other Iowa counties in various health-related areas.

The county ranked 99 out of 99 counties for social and economic factors. Lee County is 85th in quality of life or morbidity rate and 89th in mortality rate.

For health behaviors like tobacco use, diet and exercise, alcohol use and sexual behavior, the county ranks 93rd.

Vandehaar asked if some of the numbers could be true, such a 42 percent of the children in the county in single parent homes.

Those present believe that is plausible. Vandehaar compared that to an average of several other rural counties that are at 26.6 percent.

He also asked if the unemployment number was accurate at 9.3 percent. The rate has dropped a few points since his data was put together, but Lee County has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country.

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Better mental health care tops county focus list

Guvs talk education, health care

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Western leaders Speakers say both fields can be improved by more innovation and technology.

Park City Utah Gov. Gary Herbert asked western governors and guest experts the same question Saturday about public education and health care: how can states afford their increasing costs?

He received the same answer for both: Totally reform the systems, because business as usual is too expensive. Experts, by the way, said that could also improve quality.

"We cant be doing the same old, same old and expect different and better results," Herbert, the outgoing chairman of the Western Governors Association, said in an interview after the groups convention held sessions on health care and education.

For example, he said, "A teacher could have gone to sleep 100 years ago, come back 100 years later and felt very comfortable in the classroom because nothing has changed."

But students have changed, with more not speaking English at home, or wanting to use computers and the Internet to learn. Also, millions of adults started college but never finished, and need help the current system lacks.

Herbert said reforms to consider include more competency-based testing to allow students to skip classes on what they already know, spend more time on what they need to learn and possibly graduate quicker. More use of the Internet and technology could cut need for extra buildings and stretch the reach of teachers, and allow instructors to offer more individualized coaching.

"We need to be more innovative," Herbert said.

Mike Leavitt, former U.S. Health and Human Services secretary and former Utah governor, gave governors the same message about health care as they try to figure out how to cover higher costs as the federal Affordable Care Act kicks in.

He likened their situation to a mythical city that had used taxis to provide transportation, but could no longer afford that as the population increased but tax revenues did not. "So it invented buses," to carry more people cheaper, if not necessarily as conveniently, he said.

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Guvs talk education, health care

Governors have tools to cut health care costs, Leavitt says

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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


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