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Chris Christie on Health Care |
CHRISTIE: I was for repealing and replacing ObamaCare when I was a candidate for president, and I'm still for it now. I hope for a really vigorous, open conversation between the executive branch and the Congress and the nation's governors, since the Medicaid program was 50% funded by our state taxes. And I will certainly share with the administration the experiences we have had here in NJ on the Medicaid program. For instance, five times the number of people are now getting drug abuse treatment in NJ through the Medicaid program than got it three years ago. I think that's a good thing.
CHRISTIE: I want them to continue to be able to have coverage. Now, there can be lots of different ways that that can happen through the repeal and replacement of ObamaCare. And there are great minds inside the Congress and the administration who are going to have ideas on how to do this. President Trump is a deal-maker. And I think he will bring the nation's governors together, since we're stakeholders in this, and make sure that we get something that will take care of the people of the United States. He has always said he does not want a system where people are without health care. We're going to work together to make sure that happens, whether it's through Medicaid or another vehicle.
CHRISTIE: I expanded Medicaid because it was right for New Jersey, because I had had three liberal Democratic governors before me, and so in expanding Medicaid we actually made money in New Jersey and lowered our costs in emergency rooms across the state.
The New Jersey governor quickly clarified his position once the issue began grabbing national headlines in the U.S.: "To be clear: The Governor believes vaccines are an important public health protection and with a disease like measles there is no question kids should be vaccinated," Christie's office said in a statement sent to reporters. "At the same time different states require different degrees of vaccination, which is why he was calling for balance in which ones government should mandate."
Paul, however, doubled down on his view that the decision whether to vaccinate one's child is a matter of personal liberty: "The state doesn't own your children," Paul said. "Parents own the children."
Our whole emphasis has been to deliver the right level of service to the right person, in the right place. As a result, we've increased and improved the options of assistance and care provided in a home setting and in the community, while reducing our reliance on more traditional institutional care, whether in nursing homes or developmental centers.
This approach has worked under Medicaid, improving services and holding down costs. NJ's Medicaid spending growth on these groups has trailed the national average, and has been cited as the second lowest in the region.
CHRISTIE: Of course we do. The CDC protocols have been a moving target. It was my conclusion we need to do this to protect the public health. Governor Cuomo [of NY] agreed. And now, Mayor Emanuel [of Chicago] agrees. I think the CDC eventually will come around to our point of view.
Q: The NIH says it's not good science to quarantine people when they're not symptomatic because they can't spread the disease in those situations.
CHRISTIE: They're counting on a voluntary system with folks who may or may not comply. When you're dealing with something as serious as this that we can count on a voluntary system. This is government's job. If anything else, the government job is to protect safety and health of our citizens. And so, we've taken this action and I absolutely have no second thoughts about it.
CHRISTIE: No, I'm really not, because I believe that folks who want to take that step and are willing to volunteer also understand that it's in their interest and the public health interest to have a 21-day period thereafter if they've been directed expose to people with the virus. Gov. Cuomo [D-NY] and I agree on this. I think this will become a national policy sooner rather than later.
CHRISTIE: Anybody who has run anything in their lives could see this coming a mile away. And that's why we didn't do a state based health exchange. We didn't do it because we could see that this whole program was going to be a problem. So let's own up, tell the truth about what's going on. Then they can worry about working something out to fix the problem--not working out of a fantasy that these are not major problems. Lots of us have been saying all along about the fact that this was just too big for the government to handle.
Q: You didn't set up an exchange, but you did accept the expansion of Medicaid under ObamaCare.
CHRISTIE: I do what's best for the people of New Jersey every day. And expanding Medicaid in N.J. was a relatively small expansion. It's going to benefit N.J.'s budget.
CHRISTIE: I think ObamaCare was a mistake. And I've said that right from the beginning. I think it's a failed policy. That's why we did not institute state-based exchanges. And you could see exactly why when you see the disaster that's happening right now. The fact of the matter is the president didn't tell folks the truth about what was going to happen with their own private insurance policies. And what I urged them to do, is tell people the truth. That's the thing they expect. And I think that's why we've gotten the support we've gotten in NJ. Because whether it's good news or bad news, I tell folks in NJ the hard truth they need to hear. And even when they disagree with me, they've come around to support me. Because they say at least this guy is looking us in the eye and telling us the truth. I think the president failed that test, unfortunately, on ObamaCare.
Christie prosecuted the Garden State icons for using their positions to benefit themselves or their cronies, a long-standing tradition in NJ--one politicians practiced with impunity.
Source: Rise to Power, by B. Ingle & M. Symons, p. xi-xii , Jun 5, 2012
Four of the top hip and knee replacement companies agreed to pay $311 million to settle the probe. A 5th company, which had cooperated,
The Governor also signed a proclamation recognizing this week as National Health Center Week in honor of the comprehensive medical and dental care community health centers have been providing for more than 40 years. The theme of this year's National Health Center Week is "Celebrating America's Health Centers: Serving Locally, Leading Nationally."
NIH, as well as the indirect job benefits of laboratories needing space, supplies, services, and equipment. We are also deeply aware that NIH-funded discoveries are the basis of new companies and even new industries in our communities.
NIH research is an instrumental part of the success of the US life sciences industry and its 6 million high-wage US jobs. Moreover, follow-on life science research advances are now stimulating new jobs and new solutions in green energy, agriculture, the environment and industrial manufacturing. NIH funding enables the scientific talent and discoveries that are at the heart of this vast array of economic activity.
As you develop the Congressional Budget Resolution, we urge you to enable the 3.2% funding increase for NIH contained in the President`s budget request. We thank you for your past support for biomedical research and ask you to craft a budget resolution that accommodates the President`s $32.2 billion FY 2011 NIH budget request.
The greatest contribution NIH makes is to the health and well-being of Americans. Past federal investments in medical research, combined with those from the private sector, have led to improved health, better quality of life, and improved productivity of millions of patients and their families.
But NIH is also an important national, regional, and local economic engine. Together, our states received more than $19 billion from the NIH last year for promising research efforts. NIH funding directly supports 350,000 jobs across the US. In our states, we see firsthand the world class research institutions and scientific teams enabled by
As Governors, we are writing to you regarding the excessive constraints placed on us by healthcare-related federal mandates. One of our biggest concerns continues to be the Maintenance of Effort (MOE) provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which prevent states from managing their Medicaid programs for their unique Medicaid populations. We ask for your immediate action to remove these MOE requirements so that states are once again granted the flexibility to control their program costs and make necessary budget decisions.
Every Governor, Republican and Democrat, will face unprecedented budget challenges in the coming months. Efforts to regulate state operations impose greater uncertainty on our budgets for oncoming years and create a perfect storm when coupled with the current state of the economy.
Health and education are the primary cost drivers for most state budgets. Medicaid enrollment is up. Revenues are down. States are unable to afford the current Medicaid program, yet our hands are tied by the MOE requirements. The effect of the federal requirements is unconscionable; the federal requirements force Governors to cut other critical state programs, such as education, in order to fund a `one-size-fits-all` approach to Medicaid. Again, we ask you to lift the MOE requirements so that states may make difficult budget decisions in ways that reflect the needs of their residents.