Douglas: State Governors need 'time, flexibility' for successful health reform

KHN reports that "[w]hen it comes to making changes in the nation's health care system, states will need 'time and flexibility,' according to Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas, the Republican head of the National Governors Association." And, in the context of current health reform efforts, "governors are most concerned with the prospect of a major expansion of Medicaid, which would pose a 'tremendous financial liability' to states. Reforms to the state-administered program can only be accomplished 'in partnership' with the federal government, which shares the costs of Medicaid with the states, he added" (Schiff, 9/17).

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This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.