Mike Leavitt, Romney Transition Team Leader and former Utah Governor, recently released a letter to Sen. Orrin Hatch in which he states his gratitude for Hatch’s extensive work on advancing health reform.
Leavitt talks about the increased spending from each state on Medicaid and the financial crisis it puts them in. Hatch stated on his website that “people from both parties need to get serious about modernizing and reforming this program. The solution can’t be dictated from Washington bureaucrats stifling the innovation that has been a hallmark of our nation. Medicare reform is going to require more, not less, patient empowerment and greater choice for seniors.”
In the letter, Leavitt talks about the troubles that states face financially, but he also expresses comfort in “knowing that as a Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, and hopefully as the Committee Chairman in 2013, you (Hatch) can advance Medicaid reform in a manner that provides fiscal relief to states and the federal government.”
Leavitt also recognizes a letter that Hatch and Chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, Fred Upton, sent out to every governor in the country to obtain ideas and opinions on how to advance Medicare.
Leavitt states in the letter that “the consensus recommendations for comprehensive Medicaid reform developed by the nation’s governors are as innovative as they are prudent. It is right that you recommend this approach to the Joint Select Committee.”
