Gov. Mary Fallin of Oklahoma spoke to the National Press Club during her “State of the States” address on the importance of “flexibility” and cooperation between state and federal governments (Marshall Cohen/Medill)
WASHINGTON– Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin called Wednesday for flexibility from the federal government as states begin implementing President Barack Obama’s health care reform law.
Citing the example of a health care program in her state that she believes is in danger of losing its federal waiver, Fallin, a Republican, said she hopes states and the federal government can work together in implementing the law.
“We need room in our states to be able to reform, redesign and redirect,” Fallin said. “The federal government can be and should be a partner.”
Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, however, praised the administration’s actions on health care.
Markell, a Democrat, said that his state decided to implement a state health care exchange and accept additional Medicaid funds, both of which have been controversial in some states, because of the benefits he believes these parts of the law will offer to Delaware residents.
“It was not a Democratic issue or a Republican issue, it was an issue of math,” Markell said. “It was a good investment for us to make sure more people got covered under this expansion, while at the same time federal reimbursement actually increases.”
Markell and Fallin, the National Governors Association chair and vice chair respectively, delivered their speeches at the governors association’s first-ever “State of the States” address.
In November, Fallin announced her state would reject the health care law’s proposal for state health exchanges and for additional Medicaid funding. In explaining her decision to reject federals Medicaid funds, Fallin said Wednesday two reports had indicated that the funding could cost Oklahoma between $450 million and $650 million over the next eight to 10 years.
Markell agreed with Fallin’s emphasis on a partnership between federal and state governments in implementing the law, but said the Obama administration has already reached out to states to facilitate this.
“I have been very grateful to the leadership of [Department of Health and Human Services Sec.] Sebelius throughout supporting the idea of states innovating,” Markell said. “A lot of the conversation about health care leaves out some of the changes that have to take place within states.”
Fallin, however, said she sees a need for the Obama administration to ease the requirements for states to receive waivers for health care programs. She said that in 2011, Medicaid spending rose at an “unsustainable” rate of more than 10 percent, and that state governments are working to find cost-cutting measures.
“Medicaid remains one of our biggest budget issues for many of our states, requiring more state and federal funding … than education,” Fallin said. “We would like to see the administration embrace innovation at the state level by speeding up the consideration of waivers.”
