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| Wilson: House Budget Restores Medicaid |
April 28, 2005 |
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Wilson Led House Effort to Improve Medicaid & Fund a Bipartisan Commission
Washington, DC – Congresswoman Heather Wilson today voted in support of the negotiated budget agreement that passed 214-211 after taking on a leading role in an active public effort to add Medicaid funding and establish a bipartisan Medicaid Commission.
“There will be no Medicaid reductions this year and we have established a pathway for policy to drive the budget rather than letting the budget drive policy,” Wilson said. “A bipartisan Medicaid Commission is an important step in our ongoing effort to bring everyone to the table and reform Medicaid so that it better serves the 50 million Americans who depend on it.”
“Every state in the nation has reduced eligibility benefits or payment rates for Medicaid over the last three years while state and federal spending continues to grow very rapidly,” Wilson said. “The current system gives states little flexibility to manage resources more wisely for the benefit of patients.”
The Budget agreement passed today includes:
· Approximately $1.5 trillion for Medicaid over the next five years.
· No reductions in projected growth in the next year, FY 06.
· A 7.1 percent annual growth rate in the Medicaid program for the next five years, including next year.
· Direction for the Energy and Commerce Committee to identify $10 billion in savings in programs under its jurisdiction, including Medicaid, over fiscal years 2007-2010, or 6/10ths of one percent of the money we expect to spend on Medicaid.
· Funding for a bipartisan commission on Medicaid to make recommendations for reform.
Wilson, who continued to rally efforts to improve the budget after the House first passed a budget March 17 by a narrow four-vote margin, gathered 228 cosponsors of both parties – a majority of the House – for a bill to create a bipartisan Medicaid Commission. She also authored a letter to House Budget Committee Chairman Jim Nussle signed by 44 Republican members that encouraged lower reductions in the rate of growth for Medicaid spending.
On April 26, the House passed a non-binding motion to instruct budget conferees based on Wilson’s work that urged conferees to support a bipartisan commission and not reduce Medicaid funding.
Wilson, a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, has made Medicaid a policy priority, after chairing a Medicaid Task Force in the 108th Congress. Medicaid has surpassed Medicare and is now the largest public health insurance program in the United States serving 50 million people.
Wilson is the lead sponsor of H.R. 985, a bill which would create a bipartisan Medicaid Commission and has 228 cosponsors in the House.
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