I hope you're doing well. I just wanted to take a quick minute of your time to pass along this article about our Medicaid reform efforts. Take care.

Mark

Former U.S. House Speaker Gingrich applauds Sanford's Medicaid plan

Associated Press

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. - Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich praised Gov. Mark Sanford's plan to make sweeping changes to the state's Medicaid plan.

Sanford's proposal to create personal health accounts would make the program more like a private insurance system. That would hold recipients accountable, and if used nationwide, could insure many people within five years, Gingrich said.

"I think we can make the transition to a system where you have 300 million people covered by insurance in one form or another," Gingrich said.

The Medicaid reform proposal has been submitted to the federal government for approval. But many Democrats and advocates for the poor in South Carolina and elsewhere have spoken out against the plan.

A coalition of health care providers sued Sanford last month, claiming the governor needs the Legislature's approval for his proposal and the plan violates federal regulations because it strips health care from the state's most vulnerable citizens.

Gingrich, who has been mentioned as a possible candidate for president in 2008, started a health care reform advocacy group after he stepped down as speaker in 1999.

"I think we're right at the edge of figuring out how to fix health care, and think that it takes ... a willingness to push on and not be discouraged," he told a crowd of about 275 people.

Gingrich said his Center for Health Transformation has proposed modernizing the Medicaid system.

"We need a dramatic modernization of all of government," he said.