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11 GOP and Dem governors issue joint statement on health care

AP

A bipartisan group of governors issued a joint statement Tuesday urging the Senate to "immediately reject efforts" to repeal the Affordable Care Act and instead have both parties come together and focus on fixing America's unstable insurance markets.

They also argued that governors should play a more important role in the health care process moving forward, and stated that they "stand ready to work with lawmakers in an open, bipartisan way."

The 11 governors: John Kasich of Ohio (R); Steve Bullock of Montana (D); Larry Hogan of Maryland (R); John Bel Edwards of Louisiana (D); Bill Walker of Alaska (I); John Hickenlooper of Colorado (D); Charles Baker of Massachusetts (R); Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania (D); Phil Scott of Vermont (R); Terry McAuliffe of Virginia (D); and Brian Sandoval of Nevada (R).

Full statement:

"Congress should work to make health insurance more affordable by controlling costs and stabilizing the market, and we are pleased to see a growing number of senators stand up for this approach. The Senate should immediately reject efforts to 'repeal' the current system and replace sometime later. This could leave millions of Americans without coverage. The best next step is for both parties to come together and do what we can all agree on: fix our unstable insurance markets. Going forward, it is critically important that governors are brought to the table to provide input, and we stand ready to work with lawmakers in an open, bipartisan way to provide better insurance for all Americans."