Medicaid Amendment Increases Funding for Territories – On Its Way to the President’s Desk

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—February 1, 2006—Washington, D.C.—

Congresswoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo announced today that the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 has passed the House by a vote of 216 to 214.  This is the second time the House has voted on this bill.  The House of Representatives first passed the conference report on the budget reconciliation measure on December 19, 2005.  Two days later, the Senate passed the legislation by a one-vote margin and agreed to the measure in its entirety except for three provisions under the Medicare Title which pertained to reporting requirements.  Due to that particular action in the Senate, the bill returned to the full House today.  Now agreed to identical form by members of both chambers, this major budget bill is now on its way to the President.  It is expected that he will sign it into law. 

“Today’s vote increases the Medicaid cap for the territories during the next two years.  This amendment was included in the budget reconciliation measure by Chairman Joe Barton at our request.  Two years ago, we brought an amendment to the House floor during debate on the FY2005 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 us 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 Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over Medicaid.

“This significant increase in the Medicaid funding for the territories will have a significant impact in providing adequate health care in the territories.  The 70% increase in funding during FY2007 for Guam closes the gap in Medicaid funding,” Bordallo added.

The breakdown of additional federal Medicaid funding authorized by the provision in this law is as follows:

• Guam--$2.5M more for fiscal year 2006 and $5M more for fiscal year 2007.
• Puerto Rico--$12M more for fiscal year 2006 and $12M more for fiscal year 2007.
• Virgin Islands--$2.5M more for fiscal year 2006 and $5M more for fiscal year 2007.
• CNMI--$1M more for fiscal year 2006 and $2M more for fiscal year 2007.
• American Samoa--$2M more for fiscal year 2006 and $4M more for fiscal year 2007.

“This is a major step forward in remedying healthcare disparities in Guam and the territories.  Combined with the past increase in Compact-impact assistance ($14.2 million per year for Guam), we are now on the right path to providing the territories with the same level of federal health assistance as the states,” Bordallo concluded.

To strengthen the 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.

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Contact: Alicia Chon in Washington, D.C. at (202) 225-1188 or Joseph Duenas in Guam at (671) 477-4272/4.

www.house.gov/bordallo

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