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V.I. CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATE | |||
| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Monique Clendinen Watson (202) 226-7973 | |||
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| (Washington, DC, February 2, 2006) — Delegate to Congress Donna M. Christensen announced that with yesterday’s passage of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, the territory will receive additional Medicaid funds. The Act provides a 33% increase in Medicaid funding in Fiscal Year 2006 and an additional increase of 66% in Fiscal Year 2007 to the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The measure was a joint effort of territorial delegates to include Delegate Christensen, Delegate Madeleine Bordallo of Guam, Delegate Eni Faleomaevega of American Samoa and Congressman Dan Burton of Indiana. “When the President signs this bill into law, it will lift the cap on Medicaid for the next two years and provide $2.5 million more for the Virgin Islands health system in FY 2006 and $5 million more in FY 2007,” Delegate Christensen explained. “These increases, added to the Medicaid funding received in FY 05, will become the new floor for our annual Medicaid funding which will then be adjusted for inflation annually,” she said. The measure was included in the budget reconciliation in November by Chairman Joe Barton at the request of Delegates Christensen and Bordallo along with Delegate Faleomaevega and Congressman Burton and it is the culmination of an effort to increase the Medicaid cap that began two years ago. “We territorial delegates are extremely pleased that the Medicaid cap will be lifted, even if it is temporary because it will give us the leverage we need to have it permanently removed and provide the level of support that our hospitals and health care system truly needs,” Christensen said. “It could not have been done without the assistance of former Chairman of the House Government Affairs Committee, Congressman Dan Burton and the support of the Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, Joe Barton.” | |||
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