New Jersey Leaders Detail Savings for Hea...( Former Governor Jim Florio and NJ Qua...),Health

Former Governor Jim Florio and NJ Quality Institute President David Knowlton Are Joined by Key Business Leaders

TRENTON, N.J., July 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Saying that the savings from chronic disease prevention and treatment "can fill the funding gap for health care reform," the New Jersey Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease (PFCD) was joined by key state business leaders in urging federal lawmakers to "take the savings and run" with a health care reform bill that works for all Americans.

"The savings are there," said former New Jersey Governor James Florio, Co-Chair of the PFCD effort in New Jersey. "They are real and they should be counted when calculating the cost of any reform bill which includes strong incentives for chronic disease prevention and treatment."

A former member of Congress, Florio said "The Leadership in the House and the Senate must insist that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) provides Members with all the information they need to make informed fiscal decisions on health reform. That should include an honest analysis of the savings chronic disease prevention can realize, not just in the next few years, but in the next few decades as well."

Governor Florio made it clear on behalf of the Partnership that they were not endorsing any particular reform measure and that the PFCD has not taken a position on many of its components, including whether there should be a public plan or the taxing of health benefits.

"There is enough disagreement to go around when it comes to health reform," Florio said. "But when it comes to a commitment to fight chronic disease, we all agree."

"If Congress and the President do the right thing and create a real health care system to replace the 'sick care' system we now have in place, the savings will come," said David L. Knowlton, PFCD Co-Chair and President of the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute. "The good
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