2016 Governor's State of the State speeches: on Health Care


Gary Herbert: Healthcare best solved at the state level

Too many Utahns work hard and still have no healthcare coverage. I promise that I will work with you to continue providing constructive, practical solutions to every problem and every challenge that we face regardless of who created them, and I know that you want to do the same thing. No matter what issues we face, the states can and do find the best solutions, not the federal government. On this issue of healthcare, let this be the session when Utah leads the way in finding the right state solution.
Source: 2016 State of the State speech to Utah legislature Jan 27, 2016

David Ige: Move management of public hospitals to private sector

It is getting harder and harder for us as a state to operate these hospitals well. We need the resources the private sector can bring to bear on the increasingly complex issues and challenges of health care. We recently signed a historic agreement transferring the operation and management of the Maui Region health care facilities from the state to Kaiser Permanente.
Source: 2016 State of the State speech to Hawaii legislature Jan 25, 2016

Jack Markell: Reduce costs by moving away from fee-for-service model

Employers, hospitals, physicians, and behavioral health specialists have spent thousands of hours on plans to move away from an expensive fee-for-service model & toward a system that emphasizes quality outcomes at an affordable cost. Today's system does virtually nothing to help people focus on costs, so we'll give employees the information and better incentives to choose cost-effective, high quality care--like using urgent care instead of the emergency room or telemedicine instead of an office visit.
Source: 2016 State of the State speech to Delaware legislature Jan 21, 2016

Jerry Brown: ACA wholeheartedly embraced in CA

We have wholeheartedly embraced the Affordable Care Act. We are now enrolling 13.5 million Californians in Medi-Cal and another 1.5 million in Covered California. While the benefits of these programs are enormous, so too are the costs--both now and into the future. In four years, total Medi-Cal costs have grown by $23 billion. As the state begins to pay for its share of the millions of new enrollees, the cost to the General Fund will also rise. In 2012, the General Fund paid $15 billion for Medi-Cal, but by 2019, that number is expected to be $25 billion, an increase of two-thirds.
Source: 2016 State of the State speech to California legislature Jan 21, 2016

Peter Ricketts: Cannot trust Medicaid federal matching grants

One of the biggest long-term risks we face is Medicaid expansion. We have wisely rejected Medicaid expansion 3 times in the past 3 years because it is an unreasonable risk to taxpayers. This government entitlement crowds out investments in tax relief, education, and roads--things we need to grow our state. We also know that we cannot trust the federal government to keep the commitments it makes when it comes to spending. A 90% federal match is not sustainable in the federal government budget.
Source: 2016 State of the State speech to Nebraska legislature Jan 14, 2016

Andrew Cuomo: Extra funding for breast cancer screenings

Early detection is the best treatment for breast cancer. I propose $90 million to make New York have the most aggressive breast cancer screening operation in this country. Mobile units that can get to women, longer hours for clinics, weekend hours for clinics. DFS making sure insurance companies are willing to pay for the screening.
Source: 2016 State of the State speech to New York legislature Jan 13, 2016

Nathan Deal: Medicaid expansion costs too much

The cost of Medicaid has grown from $2.6 billion in FY2013 to $3.1 billion in FY2017. Medicaid and PeachCare spending per Georgia family amounts to $1,258 per annum. When federal and other costs are added to this number, it is at least $4,365 each year. And that's without expansion. Had we elected to expand Medicaid, it would have required us to include approximately $209 million in this upcoming year's budget alone and that number would only continue to grow exponentially.
Source: 2016 State of the State speech to Georgia legislature Jan 13, 2016

Nathan Deal: Affordable Care Act is waste of money

To demonstrate our compliance with the mandates of the Affordable Care Act, we must devote $2.1 million in FY2017 budget just to turn in the paper work. When you combine the cost of federal dollars to that total, it is $4.4 million. In other words, this is just what it costs to tell the IRS that everyone in our State Health Benefit Plan and Medicaid program is covered. I can assure you that those funds could have been put to better use than on bureaucratic paperwork.
Source: 2016 State of the State speech to Georgia legislature Jan 13, 2016

Sam Brownback: KanCare at state level better than ObamaCare

When we took office in 2011, I worked to modernize our Medicaid program. Today, we have higher reimbursement rates for providers, more services for clients and measurable health outcomes for Kansans who participate in KanCare. ObamaCare is failing. It has increased healthcare costs in Kansas and especially hurt rural healthcare--it was ObamaCare that cut Medicare reimbursements to rural hospitals. We can and should find a Kansas solution that will improve rural healthcare access and outcomes.
Source: 2016 State of the State speech to Kansas legislature Jan 12, 2016

Butch Otter: Incentivize health care professionals to come to Idaho

We must address our shortage of primary care physicians. So I encourage you to keep funding our physician residency slots and we must keep attracting healthcare professionals by providing medical loan reimbursement incentives for primary care doctors who agree to serve our rural communities. In the meantime, I'm asking the Board of Education to work with our medical community and higher education institutions to develop a new plan for addressing future demand for healthcare providers.
Source: 2016 State of the State speech to Idaho legislature Jan 11, 2016

  • The above quotations are from 2016 Governor's State of the State speeches.
  • Click here for definitions & background information on Health Care.
  • Click here for other issues (main summary page).
  • Click here for more quotes by Chris Christie on Health Care.
  • Click here for more quotes by Terry McAuliffe on Health Care.
Candidates and political leaders on Health Care:

Retired Senate as of Jan. 2015:
GA:Chambliss(R)
IA:Harkin(D)
MI:Levin(D)
MT:Baucus(D)
NE:Johanns(R)
OK:Coburn(R)
SD:Johnson(D)
WV:Rockefeller(D)

Resigned from 113th House:
AL-1:Jo Bonner(R)
FL-19:Trey Radel(R)
LA-5:Rod Alexander(R)
MA-5:Ed Markey(D)
MO-9:Jo Ann Emerson(R)
NC-12:Melvin Watt(D)
SC-1:Tim Scott(R) 		Retired House to run for Senate or Governor:
AR-4:Tom Cotton(R)
GA-1:Jack Kingston(R)
GA-10:Paul Broun(R)
GA-11:Phil Gingrey(R)
HI-1:Colleen Hanabusa(D)
IA-1:Bruce Braley(D)
LA-6:Bill Cassidy(R)
ME-2:Mike Michaud(D)
MI-14:Gary Peters(D)
MT-0:Steve Daines(R)
OK-5:James Lankford(R)
PA-13:Allyson Schwartz(D)
TX-36:Steve Stockman(R)
WV-2:Shelley Capito(R) 		Retired House as of Jan. 2015:
AL-6:Spencer Bachus(R)
AR-2:Tim Griffin(R)
CA-11:George Miller(D)
CA-25:Howard McKeon(R)
CA-33:Henry Waxman(D)
CA-45:John Campbell(R)
IA-3:Tom Latham(R)
MN-6:Michele Bachmann(R)
NC-6:Howard Coble(R)
NC-7:Mike McIntyre(D)
NJ-3:Jon Runyan(R)
NY-4:Carolyn McCarthy(D)
NY-21:Bill Owens(D)
PA-6:Jim Gerlach(R)
UT-4:Jim Matheson(D)
VA-8:Jim Moran(D)
VA-10:Frank Wolf(R)
Please consider a donation to OnTheIssues.org!
Click for details -- or send donations to:
1770 Mass Ave. #630, Cambridge MA 02140
E-mail: submit@OnTheIssues.org
(We rely on your support!)

Page last updated: Dec 09, 2018