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In that sense, he said, Mississippi is moving up and the reform is on-going.
Bryant said he first encourages personal responsibility.
"It starts with every home, with every individual to make sure we have as healthy a population as we can," he said.
"Reducing teen pregnancy is a hefty task, but we've made some headway with our Healthy Teens for a Better Mississippi. It starts with taking care of yourself, exercising properly, eating properly, trying to get all of those concepts early in life."
Though teen pregnancy, breast cancer awareness and fitness initiatives were part of his address, Bryant told us that employers can have an impact on the overall health of the state by encouraging employees to be healthy. He recalled a conversation he had this week with a higher up ay General Electric. That boss said the company didn't start getting involved in how healthy their employees were until they realized the impact on group insurance.
"So I think businesses are gonn have to get involved and incentivize employees to manage their health care before they get in the hospital," said Bryant. He says the first example may be state employees.
"If we're gonna begin this, let's start with the employees of the state of Mississippi. We're all in the same health insurance pool. Employees of the state that are not concerned about the health drive those insurance costs up. We;re worried first about their quality of life, but secondly we're worried about the cost of the insurance premiums that we all pay," he said.
Bryant said he is looking for a company that would come in and teach state employees, on a voluntary basis, how live a healthier lifestyle.
Bryant is a Republican who supports and endorses Mitt Romney. We asked what would happen to the plans for health care reforms being put in place by the state if Romney lost, or if there were no Obama Care repeal:
