Louisiana, we’re going to reform our health care system.  We’re going to start right here – right now – in New Orleans.  Today I’m leading our State down a clear path towards universal health insurance coverage.  Our goal must be universal access for all of Louisiana.  This is something that has been out of reach for working families and our children. 

Our reform must build a health care delivery system centered on four key principles.  These include care coordination, efficiency, high quality expectations and modern information technology.  I am grateful to the Collaborative for proposing the mechanisms – the tools – that will make this vision a reality.

You may ask why I’m insisting on reform.  I’ll tell you why. The people of this State deserve no less.  Prior to Katrina, our public system was over-loaded. The private system had excess capacity, but remained inaccessible to so many people.

For far too many people, expensive emergency room care was their first and only encounter with the health care network.  Preventive medicine never saw the light of day. The end result was an increasingly expensive system of poor quality care. 

All through the State, working families struggle to meet the high cost of health insurance.  There are parents working two jobs just to be able to afford coverage. 

And if you’re under or uninsured – and a loved falls chronically ill – your family’s financial security is shattered overnight.  There is something wrong with this picture.   

We must not rebuild a hobbled system. We have an unprecedented opportunity to rebuild a reformed system that provides quality care. Change is never easy.  But let me tell you – it’s better than going down the same dead end path. 

We owe it to the people of this State to have the courage to embrace change. We’ll start in the New Orleans region. But we won’t end there. I believe we must take core principles of reform and extend them throughout the entire State. 

Today I’m endorsing the key principles of reform put forth by this collaborative. A growing number of States at the national level are embracing reforms in an effort to achieve universal access. I believe the principles endorsed today give us a chance to be one of the FIRST States to insist on reform. These core principles include:

• The adoption of a Health Insurance Connector model. This Connector will match individuals needing health insurance to affordable options. The Connector concept will facilitate access to employer sponsored or group health plans;
• The creation of an electronic health record and the use of standardized technology. We saw how important this was with our pharmacies after the storms. No matter where displaced people were located, they could access their prescriptions. We need to insist on the same technology with health records.
• An insistence on real options for low-income families to buy into Medicaid for their children;
• Adoption of the medical home plan, so we can do a better job of providing effective and efficient care to patients. 

These are just some of the key principles. We will transform from our traditional model of caring for the uninsured. We will start providing insurance coverage to those who have relied on the safety net system. 

This will also allow us to rapidly move toward the day when each and every Louisiana resident will eventually have an insurance card. 

We are moving away from the two-tiered system, but we won’t break with it until we can make assurances. 

We must first be able to guarantee that our citizens can affordably access the systems of our future. 

I believe Secretary Leavitt will greet Louisiana’s plan with optimism and goodwill.  He has stated a willingness to work with us to leverage the funding necessary to transition our citizens to this new system.  I’m going to personally work with him as we move forward, as there are a lot of numbers – and a lot of unknowns – that must still be worked out.  But we’re moving forward. 

We won’t get there overnight, but we’re on a clear path towards universal coverage.  I thank all of the members of the Collaborative for your hard work and dedication.  I’d like to thank the members of Secretary Leavitt’s staff.  And I’m certainly grateful to my own Secretary Fred Cerise and his team.  Let me also acknowledge the Ochsner Hospital family for hosting so many of your meetings.  

Working together, we will achieve fundamental change. We will embrace this unprecedented opportunity to reform our health care system. 

Thank you.