The President’s health reform law is going to save thousands of lives and make coverage more affordable for millions of Americans. It also left some good, progressive ideas on the table. But with the reform bill now law, Democratic state legislators are already stepping up to put those ideas into action.

Colorado, Maine, and Maryland have all passed bills to reinforce or speed up key planks of the federal reform plan, like the prohibition on charging higher premiums for women or the ban on lifetime caps on benefits. Meanwhile Oregon, which created the Oregon Health Authority last year to study ways to improve the affordability of health care, is uniquely positioned to take advantage of the federal reform plan.

But states like Connecticut and Vermont are preparing to go even further. Connecticut will be continuing its SustiNet project, a state-administrated health plan overseen by a board of experts reporting directly to the Legislature. The Vermont Senate has given preliminary approval for a bill requiring the Legislature’s Health Care Reform Commission to develop three separate plans for implementing universal health care, including one plan that creates a state-run public insurance option.

Even before the President’s plan passed, Democratic state legislators were at the forefront of health care reform in America. But now that we have health care reform on a national scale, expect states to continue pushing the envelope – finding new ideas and offering bold solutions.

And expect Democrats to continue leading the way.