Governor Gregoire Receives the Governor of the Year Award from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (As Written)

February 8, 2007

I am deeply honored to receive this award. However, you deserve the credit for calling attention to so many important health care issues.

All of you have been in the trenches fighting on behalf of better health care policies.

Those of you who are struggling with MS, your families and those who are advocating on behalf of them have fought hard for many of these changes.

I understand that MS occurs in Washington more than almost any other state (and, as an aside, is far more frequent in women) making these accomplishments particularly important to you.

I�m proud of the issues I�ve worked on:

  • Steering tobacco settlement money to the Life Sciences Discovery Fund � We have seen how investments in global health research can pay off, not only in lives saved, but also in economic growth and job creation. In 2005 we created the Life Sciences Discovery Fund to build on the research underway in our state.

    The fund will invest $350 million over ten years in support of research competitiveness.

    Microsoft, Boeing, and Starbucks all started small and today they have an impact on the entire world. Will a cure for Multiple Sclerosis or cancer or AIDS come out of one of the laboratories on South Lake Union?

  • Providing coverage of prescription drug co-pays for the low income Medicare recipients. � When Congress passed the Medicare legislation in 2003, it left many gaping holes in prescription drug coverage for seniors and vulnerable people.

    One of the most dangerous holes was the requirement that low-income elderly and disabled people pay a co-pay in order to receive essential medications. Prior to these changes, these individuals received prescriptions through the Medicaid program WITHOUT a co-pay.

    My office received numerous calls and visits from panicked seniors and disabled people saying they couldn�t afford their medications.

    The people affected take an average of seven prescriptions each. Some take fifteen or more. With many getting by on an income of $600 or less, these co-pays were financially devastating to many, and worse, threatened their health and well-being.

    With a recent study suggesting that those with MS are three times more likely to rely on public programs for their health insurance, this could have had a devastating impact on you and your families. But through legislation I signed just last week, in our state this will no longer be a concern.

  • Creating the Blue Ribbon Commission on Health Care Costs and Access � I brought together legislators from both sides of the aisle, members of the business community, labor, medical professionals, health care advocates.

    It took a while, but we broke through the usual impasses and came up with some proposals that will help us move forward. At my request, legislation was just introduced to turn the Commission's recommendations into law.

    Particularly important to you will be its focus on health care quality, and better care and management of chronic conditions such as Multiple Sclerosis.

  • Increasing funding for long-term care providers. It's important to support those whom you look to for assistance in living a life complicated by diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis.

    That's one of the reasons I've proposed increases in state payments to those who provide such care.

    Whether it be through increased wages for those whose care allows you to stay in your own house, or increased reimbursement to facilities such as adult family homes and nursing homes if they become necessary, I want to be assured that when you seek help, it is available and the quality is what you deserve.


I�m proud of these accomplishments, but if people like you hadn�t educated me and advocated before me, then we would not have made the great progress we have.

Still, as you well know, there is so much more we need to do.

Our health care system is crying out for national leadership, but the federal government has merely left the states to fend for themselves.

So we will continue to study new ideas and experiment with new programs and we will need your help as advocates.

Keep letting your legislators know how important it is that we fix our health care system.

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