John Kitzhaber Quotes

John Kitzhaber — American Politician born on March 05, 1947,

John Albert Kitzhaber is an American politician and physician. He is the longest-serving governor in Oregon's history, as well as the only Oregon governor to resign because of a scandal. He served two terms from 1995 until 2003, another full-term from 2011 until 2015, and was sworn in for a fourth term on January 12, 2015. He resigned on February 18, 2015, with state and federal investigations into criminal allegations against him and his fiancée, Cylvia Hayes. A member of the Democratic Party, Kitzhaber previously served in the Oregon House of Representatives and Oregon Senate, including as Senate President. He was also an emergency physician and has worked as a health care administrator... (wikipedia)

First of all, pharmaceutical costs are the single fastest-growing part of our health care budget.

The reason prescription drugs are so important at the state level is because they're eating up the Medicaid budget.

States, virtually all of them, have a constitutional requirement to operate on a balanced budget.

I don't want to suggest that controlling pharmaceutical costs is the answer to what ails the U.S. health care system. It isn't.