From: Whipple, Deb (GOV)
Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2010
4:55 PM
Subject: What the governor is talking about today
What the Governor’s Talking about
Today
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Governor Issues Executive Order
Implementing Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act
The governor today established a Health Insurance
Reform Coordinating Council within state government to identify steps that must
be taken to ensure that Michigan citizens reap the full benefits outlined in the
Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act signed into law by President
Obama last week. The council will be chaired by Michigan Department of
Community Health (DCH) Director Janet Olszewski.
As outlined
in Executive Order 2010-4, the council will conduct a comprehensive evaluation
of the law and identify steps that the state must take to further enhance access
to health care, reduce costs and improve the quality of health care in
Michigan. The council also will develop a coordinated and efficient
response to implementation of the act and engage relevant stakeholders in the
process.
In addition to the DCH director and the
commissioner of the Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation (OFIR), the
council will be comprised of the directors of the DCH Medical Services
Administration; the Department of Human Services; the Department of Technology,
Management and Budget; and the Office of the State Employer, plus the state
budget director and state personnel director.
The governor’s executive order also creates an
Office of Health Insurance Consumer Assistance within OFIR and an ombudsman to
help provide consumers with information regarding health care insurance, assist
with the filing of complaints, and to ensure compliance with laws and
regulations relating to health care insurance.
As a first step toward helping citizens gain access
to information about the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act and
how it affects them, the state of Michigan has established a Web site at:
www.michigan.gov/healthcarereform
Key messages:
• Health care reform is designed to give
Michigan families and businesses more control over their own health care,
provide them with the security and stability that come with health care
coverage, and reduce overall health care costs. After waging a long and
hard fight for this historic legislation, we want to ensure that we are doing
everything we can to help citizens benefit under the new law.
• We want to make sure that Michigan
residents and businesses will benefit from this new federal law through enhanced
access to quality and affordable health care, critical insurance market reforms,
and reductions in the cost of health care for Michigan families and job
providers.
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