Perdue says missing signature not a sign

Gov. Beverly Perdue says there's a good reason why she didn't join most of the nation's other Democratic governors in signing a letter supporting health care reform.

Perdue says she was too busy with an economic development trip to consider the letter.

The letter was assembled by the Senate Majority Leader and the Democratic Governors Association, Talking Points Memo reports.

It's a standard letter addressed to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi and Minority Leader Boehner, telling them states "will only achieve the health care security and stability they need if we succeed in working together with the Congress and the President to achieve health care reform."

Perdue was one of six Democratic governors who did not sign the letter. Talking Points Memo and some bloggers have read the missing signatures as a sign of how tough the health care battle is.

In North Carolina's case, that may be overstating things. Perdue was given a copy of the letter Wednesday between meetings, Perdue spokeswoman Chrissy Pearson said.

"She didn't feel she had enough time to give it due consideration," Pearson said. "Her focus that day was the trip to New York City. It was a very grueling schedule."

Pearson said Perdue agrees with the points made in the letter.

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"She did not sign it but wants to make it clear that she remains committed to working with the Obama administration on health care reform," Pearson said. "She has continued the dialogue that began a few months ago whenever the White House asked North Carolina to host one of their forums on health care reform and she continues to remain concerned about the fact that while she believes reform is needed, such reform should not place an undue financial burden on the state."

Here is the text of the letter:

Dear Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Reid, Minority Leader McConnell and Minority Leader Boehner:

We are writing to express our support for your efforts to reform our nation’s health care system. As the chief executives of our states and territories, we realize that the status quo is no longer an option and we support getting health reform done this year.

Sky-rocketing health care costs hurt families, force businesses to cut or drop health benefits and cause already strained state budget deficits to significantly grow. We believe reform can relieve these burdens by reining in costs and making coverage more affordable, both for our citizens and our state budgets.

Efforts at the federal level, like the recent and critical investments through the Recovery Act that support states’ HIT and prevention initiatives, are beginning to work to lower health care costs. Our citizens and our states, however, will only achieve the health care security and stability they need if we succeed in working together with the Congress and the President to achieve health care reform.

We commend you and your colleagues for provisions included in your bills that will help states and territories. Many of the provisions will allow states and territories to achieve long term savings and help cover those who currently go without coverage. We recognize that health reform is a shared responsibility and everyone, including state governments, needs to partner to reform our broken health care system.

We thank you for your leadership in this historic effort and look forward to continuing to work together to get health reform passed this year.