Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report Highlights Health Issues In State Of The State Addresses

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 12 Feb 2008 - 8:00 PST

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The following highlights health issues mentioned in governors' recent state of the state addresses.

• Alabama: In his Feb. 6 speech, Gov. Bob Riley (R) proposed increasing the "number of Alabamians with access to affordable health care by offering targeted tax incentives for small businesses and their workers." Riley said small businesses "are having to cut back on hiring because of rising health care costs" and the state "cannot allow that to continue." Riley also said that his fiscal year 2009 state budget will include "fiscally responsible -- but significant -- increases for Medicaid and corrections" (Riley speech text, 2/6).
  
  
• Connecticut: In her Feb. 6 speech, Gov. M. Jodi Rell (R) said she will recommend several initiatives to address problems at nursing homes, "including increased financial oversight ... and increased inspection staffing for the departments of Social Services and Public Health." Rell noted that enrollment in the HUSKY program, the state's version of SCHIP, increased by more than 16,100 children during the past six months. She added that she is "looking forward to the gains we achieve following the full implementation of my initiative to enroll children in HUSKY B at birth -- and as we work with schools to identify low-income families for program eligibility." Rell said that she is "awaiting the responses, due next month, for the operation" of the Charter Oak Health Plan, a program for uninsured residents "who earn slightly too much to qualify for state-assisted coverage but not enough to afford private coverage." Rell also said she would propose $800,000 in additional funding for nursing scholarships and teaching (Rell speech text, 2/6).
  
  
• Oklahoma: In his Feb. 4 speech, Gov. Brad Henry (D) said that the state needs to increase efforts "to ensure a healthy Oklahoma." He noted that the state's "ambulance services are in a crisis, especially in our rural areas, where nearly 50 EMS operations closed in recent years." Henry said the state must work to "ensure the survival of ambulance services" throughout the state. In addition, Henry said that the state has "taken positive steps over the past several years" to stem childhood obesity rates by "raising nutritional standards in school lunchrooms and guaranteeing that students have healthy options in vending machines." Henry called on lawmakers to approve legislation that would "double the physical education requirement to 120 minutes each week" to allow children to develop a "lifelong health lifestyle" (Henry speech text, 2/4).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation© 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.