bill ritter, former governor of colorado. the private sector representatives, george halverson, former chairman and .eo of kaiser permanente andrew dreyfus, president and ceo of blue cross blue shield of massachusetts. glenn steele, president and ceo of geisinger health system. then we have a medicare trustee and former director of the congressional budget office and urban institute. community catalyst. several other members who were not able to be with us today include simon stevens from cohen,health, jay , and lloyd dean with dignity health. say a specialo thanks to our two major funders. first, kaiser permanente. a special appreciation to george halverson. second, to the robert wood johnson foundation represented by andy. i would like to turn the program over to bill ritter, who will outline the role of states in health care cost control and the huge number of policy levers available to states to enhance quality and reduce cost of rate increases over time. governor ritter. [applause] thank you. good afternoon. talking abou

and bill ritter the former governor of colorado. the private sector representatives who are here george halverson former chairman and ceo of kaiser permanente. andrew dreyfus presidency of blue cross-blue shield of massachusetts. and glen steele president and ceo of geisinger health system. then we have bob restuccia and medicare -- reischauer a former director of the budget office said urban institute. rob restuccia with community catalyst. several other members who were not able to meet with us today includes simon stevens from united health, j. cowan with optimum, mike davis with general mills, john hanna and very former executive director of the colorado department of health care policy and financing and lloyd dean with dignity health. finally i would like to say a special thanks to our two major funders. first kaiser permanente and special appreciation to george halverson. and second to the robert wood johnson foundation which is represented by andy. now i would like to turn the program over to governor bill ritter who outlined

now i would like to turn the program over to governor bill ritter who will outline the role of states in health care cost control and the huge number of policy levers available to states to both enhance quality and reduce the cost of rate increases over time in the health care field. governor ritter. >> thank you. good afternoon. prior to talking about the state's role and many policy levers to moderate health care cost increases, i want to make a minute and make a few general points. first, there are chapters in our report on the health care problem, the affordable care act, and on what the federal government can do to help states control costs. this press conference is going to focus on two bottom line issues. the state policy levers and our specific recommendations. second, although the title of the commission and the report itself talk about costs, increasing quality is of equal importance to the commissioners. the commission members believe that we can do both, enhance quality and reduce the rate of cost increases over time. third, although there are no silver bullets with respec

health care cost containment commission which was cochaired by our , former cochairs governors bill ritter and michael evan. -- mike levin. this provides states with significant power to transform the current fee for service system to one that rewards integrated and coordinated care. includecy levers also this and price and quality transparency laws, as well as the power of governors. given the importance of cost moderation to individuals, as well as to state and federal budgets, it is important for us to talk about the federal versus state role in cost control. some of those questions might include, what do we do about the eligible population? costly butt only receives poor quality of care. is it necessary for states and the federal government to agree on the definition of accountable care organizations? should the federal government provide financial incentives to states for cost control given the potential savings? mind ande questions in there are many others that will be discussed airing this roundtable, let me introduce the panelists who will provide all of the answers and then i will

and that's former governor bill ritter.he helped our state become a national leader in the new energy economy. and in our fight to combat global warming. and he was our governor from 2007. senator boxer, to 2011. and he found really creative ways to build a bipartisan consensus around the need for our state to develop job creating clean energy while also safeguarding our land and our air and our water. the features that make this centennial state and look, i'm going to be immodest here, we're the envy of the world. he was raised on a farm. he brought that rural perspective discussions about crafting an effective state policy on energy development. many of you heard me talk about our strong electricity standard and second only to the great state of california's. i helped lead that effort in 2004. and we started ow with a 10% requirement and very quickly met that requirement. and governor ritter came along and he built on that accomplishment. and he led the effort to -- senator boxer, and we're going to triple the state's use

care cost containment commission which was cochaired by our esteemed co-chairs former governor's bill ritter and mike leavitt. i must admit that most of us particularly those of us in the former governor category have been quite surprised at the number, the huge number of policy letters available to states to enhance quality and reduce the cost increases of health care overtime. these include as we heard at the press conference the huge purchasing power of states as they will be administering health care programs with a total of 80 million individuals enrolled. this provides states we think the significant power to transform the current fee-for-service system to one that rewards integrated in and according to care where organizations are held accountable for meeting cost and quality goals. the policy levers also include malpractice, the scope of practice in price of quality transparency laws as well as the power governors to convene stakeholders did develop a consensus for action. given the importance of cost moderation to individuals as well as to both state and federal government budget is

and we're going to start with the honorable bill ritter. you had a wonderful introduction from your senator, so please, sir, proceed. you're the director of the center for the new energy economy in colorado state university. >> thank you, madam chairman. i appreciate the opportunity. ranking member visitor, other members of the committee, i appreciate the opportunity to be here today and testify before the committee, but particularly with the work that i do at colorado state university, it really involves what states are doing around the country regarding energy and particularly regarding clean energy. i left office in 2011 and founded the center at colorado state university, so for the past three years i've worked with states on energy policy. we've developed actually a website that tracks every piece of advanced energy legislation at the state level. there are 3,600 separate pieces of legislation introduced in state houses across america last year. 600 of those were signed into law by governors across the country. it's important in this d

. >> i know president obama was looking at governor bill ritter and others with ways to get refueling get natural gas vehicles on the roads. >> right. >> how do you do that? >> it's a little chicken and egg there. you need the demand to put the refueling and you need the refueling to generate the demand. we think there is a public/private role there that could say, okay, one, two, three. let's put the 350 interstate fueling stations on to natural gas so the big 18-wheelers can be confident they can get a full tank. >> what does that look like? >> it looks like a big tank. >> no, no, no. the public/private partnership in terms of how that works. >> i think it's a combination of tax breaks and incentives plus the private industry actually putting them out there. >> it makes more sense -- i mean, look at some of the other infrastructure that has been priorities for this -- the high-speed rail between cities that don't necessarily even want high-speed rail between them. you know, renewables. i love renewables. i do. i do. i mean, this might actually work, right? 4 bucks for 1,000 mcf? i m