RGA: Obama should invite governors to health summit

Republican governors on Friday asked President Barack Obama to include governors in the White House's bipartisan healthcare summit next week.

Gov. Haley Barbour (Miss.), chairman of the Republican Governors Association (RGA), said that state executives play an important role in implementing federal healthcare rulings and thus should be included on the discussions.

"If the White House is truly interested in moving health care reform forward, they need to invite governors to the health care summit," Barbour said in a statement. "After seeing the bipartisan reaction from governors to the previous healthcare bills, it simply makes sense for the White House to seek input from governors before unveiling new legislation that could again be untenable to state governments."

Barbour's letter represents the latest Republican gripe against the meeting that Obama said would allow both sides to air their ideas on healthcare reform.

Republicans in Congress have complained that Democrats have continued to craft an agreement on healt reform in the days leading up to the summit.

"We’re one week away from the ‘bipartisan’ White House health care summit, and Washington Democrats are scrambling to salvage their massive — and quite partisan — government takeover of health care," House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said in a statement Thursday. "But for all that, Democrats may not even have a backroom deal ready by the summit despite promises to post it online in advance."

With regards to Barbour's letter, some governors have expressed worry that new federal mandates on Medicaid expansion in the existing legislation could place too much of a cost burden on state budgets.