Governors issue guiding principles for health insurance reform

Seven governors today urged Senate leaders to take a bipartisan approach to improving the nation’s private health insurance system, based on a set of guiding principles that include improving affordability, restoring stability to insurance markets, providing state flexibility and encouraging innovation, and improving the regulatory environment. “Unfortunately, H.R. 1628, as passed by the House, does not meet these challenges,” Govs. Jon Kasich (R-OH), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Steve Bullock (D-MT), Charles Baker (R-MA), Brian Sandoval (R-NV), Tom Wolf (D-PA) and John Bel Edwards ( D-LA) said in a letter to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Charles Schumer. “It calls into question coverage for the vulnerable and fails to provide the necessary resources to ensure that no one is left out, while shifting significant costs to the states. Medicaid provisions included in this bill are particularly problematic. Instead, we recommend Congress address factors we can all agree need fixing.”