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ask.heather@mail.house.gov
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In Washington DC
442 Cannon House
Office Building
Washington, DC
20515
202-225-6316 Phone
202-225-4975 Fax |
In Albuquerque
20 First Plaza NW
Suite 603
Albuquerque, NM
87102
505-346-6781 Phone
505-346-6723 Fax |  |
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Congresswoman Heather Wilson, First Congressional District of New Mexico
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| Wilson: Medicaid Is Broken & Needs Reform |
March 10, 2004 |
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Task Force Chair Says Improved Medicaid Should Work for Better Health
Washington, DC – Congresswoman Heather Wilson, who chairs the Energy and Commerce Medicaid Task Force, today said that we need to increase the visibility of the challenges in the Medicaid program in the months ahead.
“It’s time to take a long look at making the Medicaid program work better for the people it serves,” Wilson said, speaking to 600 health insurance executives at the American Association of Health Plans-Health Insurance Association of America (AAHP-HIAA). “Medicaid is set up to process claims, not to improve the health of people.”
“Medicaid has surpassed Medicare and is now the largest public health insurance program in the United States with 48 million beneficiaries and expenditures of $280 billion each year,” Wilson said at the AAHP-HIAA’s national policy forum. “While we have spent several years now improving the Medicare program, Medicaid improvement is only now beginning to emerge as the next major health care challenge.”
“Before we move ahead with solutions, we must understand what the problems are,” Wilson said. “We know that Medicaid does a poor job of managing chronic diseases like diabetes, asthma and heart disease. As one doctor said to me, ‘The system only gets paid if people are sick. It’s not set up to improve the health of poor people.’ States need a waiver from the federal program to prevent disease or reduce risk factors for disease.”
“Medicaid is a one-size-fits-all program in a society that demands choices,” said Wilson. “We should empower people to take ownership of their health care. The disabled who depend on Medicaid should be able to get care when it’s needed not just when it’s available.”
“We also know that, under the pressure of expanding enrollment and increased costs, states have developed questionable financial schemes to maximize federal dollars,” she added. “State agencies focus on the money stream, rather than focusing on what’s best for patients.”
Wilson delivered the same message yesterday to hospital and health system administrators at the Catholic Health Association Annual Legislative Advocacy Conference.
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