every state to make, and the federal government wants to be your partner in making shows investments. these are the kinds of investments that pay huge economic dividends in terms of jobs and growth and the fundamentals that allow some states to weather economic storms better than others. they re the fundamentals that will make some states better positioned to win the future than others. these investments are not just critical for your state s success. they re critical for america s success, and i want to be a partner in helping you make that happen, which brings me to the final topic that s going to help determine our ability to win the future and that s getting control of our health care costs. now, i am aware that i have not convinced everybody here to be a member of the affordable care act fan club. but surely we can agree that for decades our governments, our families, our businesses watched
serves as a labratory for our democracy. through this process, some of the best state ideas became some of america s best ideas. so whether it s through race to the top or improving the affordable care act or reforming the way that we approach social programs by ensuring that spending is tied to success, our approach has been to give you the flexibility that you need to find your own innovative ways forward. in fact this week i m issuing a presidential memoranduma instructs all government agencies to follow this flexible approach whenever the law allows. but even as we preserve the freedom and diversity that is at the heart of federalism, let s remember that we are one nation, we are one people, our economy is national, our face are intertwined. today we re not competing with each other, we re competing with other countries that are hungry to win new jobs, hungry to win new industries.
now, weeks ago oregon senator ron wyden, a democrat and massachusetts senator, scott brown, a republican and louisiana senator, mary landrieu, proposed legislation that would accelerate that provision so it would allow states to provide for such a waiver by 2014 instead of 2017. i think that s a reasonable proposal. i support it. it will give you flexibility more quickly while still guaranteeing the american people reform. if your state can create a plan that covers as many people as affordably and comprehensively as the affordable care act does without increasing the decifit, you can implement that plan. and we ll work with you to do it. as i ve said before, i don t believe that any single party has a monopoly on good ideas and i will go to bat
these are the kinds of investments that pay huge economic dividends in terms of jobs and growth, they are the fundamentals that allow some states to weather the economic storms better than others. they re the fundamentals that will make some states better positioned to win the future than others. these investments are not just critical for your state s success, they re critical for america s success, and i want to be a partner in helping you make that happen, which brings me to the final topic that s going to help us determine our ability to win the future, and that s getting control of our health care costs. now, i am aware that i ve not convinced everybody here to be a member of the affordable care act fan club but surely, we can agree that for decades, our governments, our family, our businesses watched as health care costs ate up more and
already operate exchanges of their own that are very different. operate them in their waepb o in their own way and we make sure that the law allows that. the same applies for other requests, like choosing benefit rules that meet the needs of your citizens or allowing for consumer-driven plans and health savings accounts. and this recognition that states need flexibility to taeurl their approach to their unique needs is why part of the law says that beginning in 2017, if you can come up with a better system for your state to provide coverage of the same quality and affordability as the affordable care act, you can take that route in step. that portion of the law has not been remarked on much. it says by 2017, you have a better way of doing it, help yourself. go ahead. take that route.