Mike Rounds on Health Care Republican SD Governor

Co-sponsored bill to repeal "Cadillac Tax" on healthcare

Remove medical devices tax & payment advisory board

ROUNDS: I think the Republican majority now has an opportunity to show that we can actually govern. That means getting results. It means you go back in and you take up on ObamaCare, or the Affordable Care Act section by section--

Q: Dismantling healthcare is a priority? You don't think that's going to add to the dysfunction of Congress, though?

ROUNDS: I think there are bits and pieces of it. You start out with section by section and you do it in such a fashion that you pick those items which have to be fixed. You start out, look, there's a section in it, the independent payment advisory board, which needs to be eliminated in my opinion. The medical devices tax that are there right now has to be taken apart. So I think there are pieces in there which Republicans and Democrats alike recognize have got to be fixed.

Shut down ObamaCare but don't shut down government

Two notable exceptions are former S.D. Gov. Mike Rounds (R) and Alaska Lieutenant Gov. Mead Treadwell (R), who have not fully embraced the efforts. Rounds applauded the House bill, but he didn't go as far as saying he'd be willing to have the government shut down in order to force the issue.

"I support the House CR--keep government running and shut down ObamaCare," he said. "We don't know what (Senate Majority Leader) Harry Reid will do to the CR on the Senate side, but it's a fight worth having. This is a prime example of the importance of Republicans recapturing the Senate in 2014."

Healthcare to all citizens isn't government's responsibility

Indicate which principles you support regarding health issues.
• Provide health care to uninsured children by designing a children's health insurance program.
• Limit the amount of damages that can be awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits.
• Guaranteeing medical care to all citizens is not a responsibility of state government.

3.2% funding increase for National Institutes of Health.

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

Loosen "one-size-fits-all" approach to Medicaid.

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.