Subject: What the governor is talking about today
What the Governor’s Talking about
Today
Friday, March 26, 2010
Governor Says Health Care Reform Will
Benefit Michigan
In her weekly radio address, the governor today
said that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is the single most
important reform of America’s health system in decades.
“Health
care reform will make a positive difference in everyone’s life,” the governor
said. “Everybody will have access to quality, affordable health insurance,
and we can finally start getting health care costs under control. It’s
been a long time coming, but health care reform is finally here – and all the
people of Michigan and our great nation will benefit.”
The governor
also saluted Michigan Congressman John Dingell for his role in health care
reform.
“It was fitting that Congressman John Dingell was seated at
President Obama’s side for the signing of the health care reform act,” Granholm
said. “I salute John Dingell for his lifelong fight for health care for
all Americans.”
The governor also
thanked everyone else in the Michigan congressional delegation who fought hard
to make health care reform happen.
• Health care reform means that now there
will be affordable coverage options for the 1.2 million uninsured people in
Michigan and for the 459,000 people in our state who purchase their own
individual coverage.
• Young people will be able to remain on
their parents’ health insurance until age 26, which is a great benefit to the
more than 950,000 young adults in Michigan.
• No longer will
health insurance companies be able to cancel people’s coverage if they become
sick.
• Beginning later this year, insurance
companies will be prohibited from excluding coverage of pre-existing conditions
for children, including the 2.3 million children in Michigan.
• Medicare beneficiaries will receive
additional assistance in paying for prescription drugs.
• More than 100,000 Michigan small businesses
will be eligible to receive tax credits to make health coverage more
affordable.
• Slowing the growth rate of health care costs
will provide businesses with savings that can be used to hire additional
workers.
Granholm Joins Three Other Governors in Opposing
State Attorneys General Lawsuit
Governor Granholm today joined the governors of
Colorado, Pennsylvania and Washington in sending a letter to Attorney General
Eric Holder opposing the actions of the state attorneys general who have filed a
lawsuit to challenge the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act.
“We believe their legal efforts will fail in court,
unnecessarily delay the urgent need to get our citizens access to health care
and waste our state tax dollars,” the governors wrote. “The Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act is, in our view, the single most important
reform of our health care system in decades.”
The four governors offered any assistance they
could provide to Attorney General Holder.
“We are ready to offer you any help you may need
and we will stand by your efforts to protect this most historic improvement of
health care for every citizen of this nation,” the governors wrote.
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