Governor Blunt is one of 12 state governors named to serve on a new national health panel. The Health Care Working Group is a newly created board within the National Governors Association established to develop recommendations for federal health care. He says the ideas already outlined by the group aim to use the private sector to expand access to health care and to reform the current Medicaid system.  He says the current system is not sustainable and the group will be looking at innovative ways to create a system that is sustainable for taxpayers and that offers participants a higher level of care.

Blunt says many of the goals of the national group and of Missouri’s health care reform are the same: a focus on prevention versus just a response to sickness. He says part of his role on the panel will be to demonstrate how Missouri health care reform can serve as a national model, such as the state’s Children’s Health Insurance Program, which he says offers more health care access to children. He also suggests the federal government should redirect some of the taxpayer dollars that are funding uncompensated visits to the ER and use it to help people buy insurance so they can have access to preventive health care.

He adds that there are a number of programs that other states are doing that Missouri should consider. He says his position on the panel will give him access to those ideas and will help in formulating a "Missouri-centured solution to the Missouri’s health care challenges."

Blunt says his role on the panel means Missourians can take pride in the state’s role as an innovative model for national health care reform.

 

AUDIO: Laura McNamara reports (:60 MP3)