2013 Governor's State of the State speeches: on Health Care
Maggie Hassan:
Repair our mental health system; take pressure off ERs
Each of us knows of someone, a friend, a family member, a neighbor who has suffered from mental illness. Right now, many children who are suicidal are stuck for days in emergency rooms because there is nowhere else for them to go.We can all agree that
our mental health system is deeply strained. And though we won't fix all of our challenges at once, it is time to resume our efforts to repair our mental health system. We must phase in changes with a systematic approach that will strengthen all aspects
of mental health care in our state and move us toward more community-based care.
And that is what this budget does. Over the next two years, it will add a new designated receiving facility to take the pressure off local emergency rooms and provide
more appropriate critical treatment environments. It will add new acute psychiatric residential treatment beds, in addition to the beds at the state hospital. And it will focus on treating people in their communities, with 75 new community residence beds
Source: 2013 State of the State N.H. Budget Address
Feb 14, 2013
Steve Bullock:
Access Health Montana: increase coverage and access
To have a healthy economy, we need healthy citizens. For those of us with health insurance, we're paying too much and getting too little. And for the tens of thousands of Montanans who don't have insurance, the Emergency Room has become a primary
care facility, pushing costs for all of us even higher. The fact is, subsidizing expensive ER care for the uninsured costs Montanans $300 million a year. That makes no sense when there is a smarter, cheaper way to provide better care.
Through Access Health Montana, we are proposing a made-in-Montana solution designed to increase coverage and access to health care for more Montana families. It will also create a patient-centered delivery system that focuses on coordinating care and
improving health, rather than simply treating illness. Implementing these measures will allow us to better control and ultimately lower the costs of health care--slowing the annual rate hikes that hit all of our wallets.
Source: 2013 State of the State Address to Montana legislature
Jan 30, 2013
Jay Nixon:
$10M for more services in community mental health centers
In recent years we have seen the tragic consequences when people with serious mental illness don't get the help they need. Right now, many people with severe mental illness only get treatment when they reach a crisis point. That's too late.
My budget includes $10 million to help those with mental illness get timely, effective treatment in their own communities. That money will be used to:- Provide more services in our community mental health centers;
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Increase mental health first-aid training for professionals so they can recognize the early warning signs of mental illness.
- Train law enforcement in mental health crisis-intervention;
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And teach families how to care for loved ones who suffer from severe mental illness.
We must do everything in our power to get folks the treatment they need, before it's too late.
Source: 2013 State of the State Address to Missouri Legislature
Jan 28, 2013
Jerry Brown:
Get started on ObamaCare, then expand Medi-Cal
California was the first in the nation to pass laws to implement President Obama's historic Affordable Care Act. Our health benefit exchange, called Covered California, will begin next year providing insurance to nearly one million Californians.
Over the rest of this decade, California will steadily reduce the number of the uninsured.
Today I am calling for a special session to deal with those issues that must be decided quickly if California is to get the Affordable Care Act started by next January. The broader expansion of Medi-Cal that the Act calls for is incredibly complex
and will take more time. Working out the right relationship with the counties will test our ingenuity and will not be achieved overnight. Given the costs involved, great prudence should guide every step of the way.
Source: 2013 State of the State address to California Legislature
Jan 24, 2013
Phil Bryant:
ObamaCare adds 300,000 entitlements; get people off Medicaid
The Affordable Care Act [has a large] potential impact on Mississippi. Any law that will add 300,000 Mississippians to a federal entitlement program partially funded by the state will either result in a huge tax increase or drastic cuts to education,
public safety, job creation and other budgets. It will leave our children and grandchildren with ballooning federal debt. Instead of assuming enormous costs that we cannot afford, I would suggest that we spend our time and efforts in finding good
jobs for all Mississippians. We should be compassionate by lowering our Medicaid population through economic growth, personal responsibility, and providing more access to private sector health care.
To help us further develop our medical industry and identify ways to improve our personal health, I am pleased to announce the formation of the Mississippi Health Care Solutions Institute.
Source: 2013 State of the State address to Mississippi Legislature
Jan 22, 2013
Phil Bryant:
Expand MS School of Medicine; 1,000 new doctors by 2025
One essential health care step we must take is increasing the number of doctors in Mississippi. We know that physicians create about $2 million in economic impact in their communities, including the people they hire and the equipment and supplies they
buy to run their offices. Having more providers will create better health care access for Mississippians, thereby lowering the cost of health care.Just this month, I joined the University of Mississippi Medical Center to break ground on a
new expansion of the School of Medicine. With the addition of new classrooms and laboratories, each incoming class of medical students will increase to more than 160. This means Mississippi will graduate more doctors.
The university estimates that by
2025, an expanded medical school would produce 1,000 new physicians and support more than 19,000 new jobs. I ask the Legislature to consider the impact of this medical school on our state and support its growth.
Source: 2013 State of the State address to Mississippi Legislature
Jan 22, 2013
Rick Snyder:
Get communities more involved in mental health courts;
On Mental Health: We need to do better. We started investing in that and we've done some good work with mental health courts. But, the issue is, we should be doing more to help people before they show up before a judge.
So what I am saying, we need to work together in partnership.
We'll put additional budget resources towards, but we need to partner on coming up with great demonstration budgets on how to engage mental health issues more effectively.
And get communities more involved creating more public/private partnerships and take care of people that deserve better attention that will benefit all of us. So, let's work on mental health.
Source: 2013 State of the State Speech to Michigan Legislature
Jan 16, 2013
Matt Mead:
ObamaCare is law of the land; let's decide on an Exchange
The implementation of the ACA [ObamaCare] and associated costs are looming. Despite my strong objection to the ACA and my asking the Attorney General to fight the case in the U.S. Supreme Court, it is the law of the land.
We now have to play the cards in our hand. We have to make decisions regarding Medicaid expansion and insurance exchanges. Last year the discussion on a state-based exchange was suspended.
That and a lack of answers from the federal government mean the federal government will likely run an exchange for Wyoming when exchanges start operating in 2014. But a federal exchange could be temporary because we can choose a state exchange
down the road. We should make an informed choice; therefore, one of my budget recommendations seeks $100,000 to assist in the process of deciding what exchange option is best for Wyoming.
Source: 2013 State of the State Speech to Wyoming Legislature
Jan 9, 2013
Matt Mead:
ObamaCare is not good policy; but we must act on it
Addressing health care, Governor Mead said he continues to believe the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is not good policy. "Unfortunately there is no magic wand waving, there is no approach that will extricate us from the ACA. It is upon us and we must act."
Full implementation of the ACA begins in 2014 and Governor Mead said now is the time to prepare a set of conditions for Wyoming to submit to the federal government on a health insurance exchange and
Medicaid optional expansion. "This body (the Legislature) has the opportunity to develop what we would like to see in that request. Now, perhaps the federal government will not agree to our terms.
We can say no if they do not, but it is far better that we express our terms and make a request than to not make a request and get a package without our input. Let's view this as an opportunity for innovation."
Source: Press Release on 2013 Wyoming State of the State Speech
Jan 9, 2013
Jack Dalrymple:
Cutting benefits to those in need is not an option
Taking care of all our people is a fundamental responsibility we all share. The state must make up $93 million this biennium in reduced federal funding for Medicaid reimbursements. We must make up the loss with state funds because cutting benefits to
those in need of healthcare is not an option.At the same time, we need to support nursing homes, health care providers, and providers serving people with developmental disabilities and mental illness.
Their costs of staffing and other expenses have gone up and it is very difficult for them to break even. We also must support our rural health clinics, our critical access hospitals and enhanced programs that care for our senior citizens in their homes.
Taking care of our own is what we do in North Dakota.
Source: North Dakota 2013 State of the State Address
Jan 8, 2013
Butch Otter:
State-based health exchange, not federal one-size-fits-all
[I recently decided] to pursue a state-based health insurance exchange rather than defaulting to total federal control of that process. Rejecting the opportunity to assert ourselves will result in an unresponsive, one-size-fits-all federal exchange
wreaking havoc on some of America's most reasonable costs of coverage. At its core, this is a matter of state's rights. You all know how I feel about Obamacare. I will continue encouraging and supporting efforts by our Idaho congressional delegation and
many others to repeal and replace the law. But the fact remains that for now and for the foreseeable future it is the law. And as responsible elected officials we're sworn to uphold the rule of law--not just those laws that we support.
So I urge you to look beyond the important work of changing a misguided federal law to the essential task at hand--preserving for Idaho citizens the option of having a voice in how one element of that law is implemented.
Source: Idaho 2013 State of the State Address
Jan 7, 2013
Page last updated: Dec 05, 2018