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The President: I just wanted to thank the governors that are represented
here today -- Governor Rounds, Gregoire, Douglas, Granholm,
and Doyle.
They are representative of the bipartisan group of governors
that hosted roundtables around the country on health care after
some initial meetings that I had with the National Governors
Association, in which every single governor --
Republican or Democrat; small state, big state --
emphasized how important it was to reform our health care system
to control costs, to assure the choice of doctors and plans for
individuals, and to make sure that we are providing
high-quality care.
And all of them represent states that have done some terrific
work, wonderful experiments, have seen successes.
But all of these governors also expressed to me,
and I think heard from their constituencies,
deep concerns about what the future holds.
I think there's a recognition that when you have premiums
doubling three times faster than wages,
when you have businesses seeing 25 or 30% increases in terms of
their health care costs for their employees,
when you look at Medicaid budgets and what that's forcing
governors to do in terms of making choices about trying to
still fund higher education and the other things that are going
to make states competitive, there's a recognition that we
have to change the status quo.
And so they've reported back to me.
There's not perfect unanimity across the table in terms of
every single aspect of reform.
I think everybody here wants to make sure that governors have
flexibility, that they have input into how legislation is
being shaped on the Hill.
But they have done my administration and I think the
American people a terrific service in bringing some of
these individual stories to us.
And we're committed to working with them in the weeks and
months to come to make sure that when we get health reform done,
it is in partnership with the states where the rubber so often
hits the road.
And one of the advantages they have, as Joe Biden put it,
they've planted a mole inside our administration.
(laughter)
Kathleen Sebelius, very recently a governor,
knows exactly what all of them are struggling with,
and she and Nancy-Ann are going to be interacting with them on a
regular basis as we move this agenda forward.
So I want to thank them publicly.
And I look forward to working with them to get this done for
the American people and for the people of their respective
states in the weeks to come.
Thank you.