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<December 21, 2005>
Federal Medicaid Funding for Guam Increased by 70%
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—December 21, 2005—Washington, D.C.— Congresswoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo announced today, that S. 1932, the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, has passed both the House and the Senate and includes an amendment that will provide significant increases in Federal Medicaid funding to Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa. The amendment was a joint effort between Congresswoman Bordallo, Congressman Dan Burton of Indiana, Congressman Eni Faleomavaega of American Samoa, and Congresswoman Donna Christensen of the Virgin Islands. The conference report on the Deficit Reduction Act, otherwise known as the budget reconciliation legislation, passed the Senate today and this same legislation passed the House in the early morning hours of Monday, December 19th . However, the Senate, in passing S. 1932, agreed to the measure in its entirety except for three provisions under the Medicare Title which pertain to reporting requirements. Due to this action in the Senate today, the bill must return to full House for a second time, and must be passed again by the House in order for it to be presented to the President for his consideration. The Medicaid provision for the territories remains in the bill that will be sent back to the House. “This amendment was included in the budget reconciliation measure first passed out of House by Chairman Joe Barton at our request. This is the culmination of an effort to increase the Medicaid cap for the past two years,” Congresswoman Bordallo said. “Two years ago, we brought an amendment to the floor during debate on the Fiscal Year 2005 budget for the Department of Health and Human Services. We agreed to withdraw the amendment with the commitment from Chairman Joe Barton to work with the Members from the territories and Chairman Dan Burton on this issue. Chairman Joe Barton worked with us to include the Medicaid increases in the portion of the reconciliation bill that his committee had jurisdiction over.” Congressman Joe Barton of Texas is the Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which has jurisdiction over Medicaid. “This significant increase in the Medicaid funding for the territories will have a real impact in providing adequate health care in the territories. The 70% increase in Fiscal Year 2007 for Guam brings us closer, and in some cases actually achieves, full Medicaid parity,” Bordallo added. The amendment to increase Medicaid in the territories also received the backing of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), which is chaired by Congressman Mike Honda of California. Chairman Honda spoke on the House floor in support of the amendment when it was first offered in the 108th Congress. "As CAPAC Chairman, I am fully aware of the disparities in treatment under the Medicaid program between the territories and the states," Honda stated. The passage of this amendment, which I strongly supported, will provide significant improvements to the health care of those in the territories.” The breakdown of the new Medicaid funding for the territories a result of the amendment and the passage of the legislation is as follows:
For Fiscal Year 2008 and subsequent years, the base amount is the Fiscal Year 2007 amount adjusted by the medical care component of the Consumer Price Index. The increases and adjustments to the Medicaid caps for the territories involved securing an extra provision in the budget reconciliation bill by amending a section of the Social Security Act. The passage of this amendment serves as a new precedent for the territories. The last time the base amounts for Medicaid payments to the territories were adjusted was in 1997 under the Balanced Budget Act. Under the provisions of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, the base amount for Guam in Fiscal Year 1998 was increased by $750,000. In the bill that passed Congress this year, the amount for Guam has increased by $2.5 million this year and will increase by $5 million next year. To help make a case for the increase in Federal Medicaid funding, Congresswoman Bordallo and Chairman Dan Burton led an effort to request a study by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) that shed light on the disparities in health care in the territories. The request was made during the 108th Congress in 2004. The GAO worked for a full year to identify the key Federal programs that finance health services for the territories and to evaluate the extent to which the methods used by the Federal Government to allocate health funds to the territories differ from the methods used for allocating funds amongst the 50 states. The official report documenting these findings was released in October of 2005. ### Contact: Alicia Chon in |
