03/11/2008 11:30 EDT
02/12/2008 16:30 EST
12/19/2007 15:15 EST
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R.I. Government Agencies | Privacy Policy |
During April and May, Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts will be taking the Healthy Rhode Island Reform Act of 2008 on the road and hosting community meetings all across the state. Lt. Gov. Roberts will share the details of her legislation, which will transform the health care system in our state by putting in place a strong new structure for ensuring that all Rhode Islanders will have access to high quality health care at a price they can afford.
Below are the dates and times for the sixteen statewide meetings. These meetings are open to the public and all are encouraged to attend. All meetings begin at 6:30pm.
The Healthy Rhode Island Reform Act of 2008 will transform the health care system in our state by putting in place a strong new structure for ensuring that all Rhode Islanders will have access to high quality health care at a price they can afford.
This package will immediately start moving to insure over 10% of the uninsured with no new state expenditures, and will establish a serious process for cutting costs and increasing value in our health care system. The legislative package creates a strong and sustainable structure that will make it possible to bring every uninsured Rhode Islander into this new system as money becomes available from the savings accrued through the transformation of the health care system, as well as from other sources. Because the plan focuses on BOTH expanding coverage AND containing costs while increasing value it transforms health care for all of us, not just those who are now uninsured.
At its most basic, this legislation is about increasing health care value and access for ALL Rhode Islanders, with the overall result being a transformation of our ailing system into a healthy one.
I know that doing nothing about health care risks the lives and the livelihoods of Rhode Islanders with every day we do not act.
We have watched the Massachusetts experiment closely to see where it would take them. Now the time has come for us to set our own course and insist on a comprehensive Rhode Island Health Care Reform Plan.
My pledge to is that starting in the 2008 legislative session and continuing until every person in our state is covered, I will pursue an agenda to ensure all Rhode Islanders have access to the highest quality health care at a cost they can afford.
If it means abandoning past practices and doing things differently. If it means setting a bold, aggressive, proactive agenda. If it means reaching a little further, trying a little harder, doing what no one in politics has ever done before, then I say count me in!
Together we can cover every Rhode Islander and I ask you to join me in that effort.
For upcoming information, sign up for my newsletter by sending an e-mail to newsletter [at] ltgov.state.ri.us.
Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts launched Mission: Healthy RI, an advisory work group of representatives from the medical community, the insurance industry, hospitals, business owners, labor leaders, consumers, and other stakeholders. The group will work with Roberts as she moves the state toward a plan to ensure that all Rhode Islanders have access to the highest quality health care at a cost they can afford. Roberts plans to introduce a package of health care reform legislation during the 2008 session. The Mission: Healthy RI advisory work group meets at the Business Innovation Factory located at the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation's headquarters on Valley Street.
Mission: Healthy Rhode Island is open to the public. All sessions will be on Friday morning and will start promptly at 7:30 a.m. and end by 9:00 a.m. Below is a list of scheduled meetings. Click on a meeting date for more information.