[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 78 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. CON. RES. 78

Expressing the support of the Congress regarding the need to facilitate 
            State innovation in national health care reform.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 24, 2009

Ms. Baldwin (for herself, Mr. Sessions, Mr. Petri, Mr. Young of Alaska, 
 Mr. Burton of Indiana, Mr. Linder, Mr. Wu, Mr. Bishop of Georgia, Mr. 
 Gene Green of Texas, Mr. Holt, and Mr. Kind) submitted the following 
 concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Energy 
                              and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
Expressing the support of the Congress regarding the need to facilitate 
            State innovation in national health care reform.

Whereas there are 45,700,000 people who have been without health insurance 
        coverage at some point during 2007 in the United States;
Whereas, at any given point in time, between 13 and 20 percent of the United 
        States population is covered by Medicaid, a program administered by 
        States according to broad Federal guidelines;
Whereas the percentage of uninsured residents varies by more than 20 percentage 
        points across the States;
Whereas States want affordable health care that will provide meaningful coverage 
        to their residents, and urge the Federal Government to lead a Federal-
        State partnership to reach that goal;
Whereas State governments possess an ability to respond to and predict the 
        health care needs of their residents within the context of a Federal-
        State partnership;
Whereas States have the unique flexibility have to meet varying social, 
        political, economic, demographic, and market conditions in the various 
        States;
Whereas States, in the absence of national action, have taken the lead in health 
        care reform, implementing new initiatives, passing legislation, and 
        debating ambitious reform proposals;
Whereas several States have already enacted comprehensive health care reform 
        initiatives, and many more States are moving towards additional types of 
        health care reform;
Whereas at least 1 State has been successful at significantly lowering its 
        uninsurance rate through State-level reforms;
Whereas many more States have undertaken incremental efforts that can provide 
        important lessons for other States and for national policy across a 
        broad range of issue areas, including payment reform, quality 
        improvement, disease management, long-term care, cost containment, and 
        coverage expansion;
Whereas, even with national action, States can continue to play a critical role 
        to supplement Federal action, ensuring consumer protections and 
        expanding available services;
Whereas Federal support and encouragement of States' initiatives is key to 
        making health care accessible to all;
Whereas the national health care system can incorporate and apply lessons 
        learned from successful State-level experiments, both to improve 
        national strategies enacted by Congress and to help prepare the way for 
        future stages of reform;
Whereas States should work in partnership with the Federal Government to achieve 
        clear national goals and objectives for improving our health care 
        system;
Whereas States may have the ability to achieve national goals and objectives 
        more quickly and effectively if permitted the flexibility when 
        implementing aspects of national reform;
Whereas States that object to segments of a proposed national reform effort may 
        come to support that reform if they are permitted to make modifications, 
        while committing to achieving objectives of reform; and
Whereas there is strong bipartisan support for an approach to health reform that 
        incorporates the principles of Creative Federalism: Now, therefore, be 
        it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That the Congress commits to include, within legislation authorizing 
national health care reform, provisions that facilitate State 
innovation and that--
            (1) promote the unique role of States as innovators in 
        health care reform, recognizing their distinct competencies;
            (2) feature flexibility for States in implementing national 
        goals and objectives for health care reform, taking into 
        consideration varying political, economic, and market 
        conditions;
            (3) facilitate States' efforts to improve upon and expand 
        the goals and objectives of national health reform; and
            (4) incorporate the principles of State innovation espoused 
        in the Health Partnership Act and Health Partnership Through 
        Creative Federalism Act.
                                 <all>