PI Action alerts & updates ... 2003

Medicaid Battle Continues

Urge your Senators and Governor to oppose capped funding!
The battle for protecting Medicaid rages on. Thanks to your hard work, we have successfully beaten back efforts by the House of Representatives to make deep cuts in Medicaid spending and secured $10 billion in temporary Medicaid relief funding to the states as part of the recent tax cut package.

However, despite these victories, there are still efforts underway to create harmful “reforms” to Medicaid The National Governors’ Association (NGA) is close to finishing its work on a Medicaid reform proposal. This proposal will undoubtedly lead to proposed legislation in Congress. It appears that the governors are close to finalizing a plan that would allow states to make vast changes to the Medicaid program. In exchange for this new power, states would be forced to accept “capped” federal funding for Medicaid. A “cap” means that the federal government would give a set amount of money to states regardless of actual program growth or need.

How would ‘capped funding’ harm people with HIV/AIDS?
It could result in:

• Limits in prescription drug coverage and increases in co-pays for drugs and doctor visits
• Fewer people qualifying for Medicaid and, therefore, even more people relying on programs funded by the Ryan White CARE Act, particularly the AIDS Drug Assistance Program
• Limited or no coverage of new anti-HIV treatment or disease monitoring options

You can continue to be a part of this ongoing battle in two very important ways!

What you can do:
Action is needed on two fronts:

There is still a chance to stop the NGA proposal. All 50 governors might have a chance to vote on it this week. It takes a 2/3 majority for the proposal to pass. All 26 Republican governors are likely to vote yes.

Please call your governor’s office immediately and ask him/her to vote against the current NGA Medicaid Reform proposal and to speak out against capped funding for the program. You can find phone numbers for your governor at www.firstgov.gov/Contact/Governors.shtml and clicking on your state.

Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) is circulating a sign-on letter asking his fellow Senators to join him in expressing a strong opposition to capped federal funding for Medicaid. This letter is intended to be a pre-emptive strike in anticipation of the NGA’s proposal and any proposed legislation in Congress that would cap funding.
Currently, 44 Senators have signed the letter (see list below). This is an impressive list, but they are all Democrats and the one Independent. Republican support is needed.

Please call your two U.S. Senators immediately. Ask them to sign-on to Senator Bingaman’s letter opposing capped federal Medicaid funding. Senators should contact Bruce Lesley in Senator Bingaman’s letter in order to sign on.

If your Senator has already signed this letter, please take a few minutes to call and thank them! Elected officials rarely get thanked for their leadership.

Thank you for your continued efforts to protect this essential health care program!

The following Senators (all Democrats, except for Sen. Jeffords, an Independent) have signed the Bingaman letter and should be thanked by constituents for their leadership:

Akaka (HI),
Baucus (MT),
Bingaman (NM),
Boxer (CA),
Breaux (LA),
Cantwell (WA),
Clinton (NY),
Conrad (ND),
Corzine (NJ),
Daschle (SD),
Dayton (MN),
Dodd (CT),
Dorgan (ND),
Durbin (IL),
Edwards (NC),
Feingold (WI),
Feinstein (CA),
Graham (FL),
Harkin (IA),
Hollings (SC),
Inouye (HI),
Jeffords (VT),
Johnson (SD),
Kennedy (MA),
Kerry (MA),
Kohl (WI),
Landrieu (LA),
Lautenberg (NJ),
Leahy (VT),
Levin (MI),
Lieberman (CT),
Lincoln (AR),
Mikulski (MD),
Murray (WA),
Nelson (FL),
Nelson (NE),
Pryor (AR),
Reed (RI),
Reid (NV),
Rockefeller (WV),
Sarbanes (MD),
Schumer (NY),
Stabenow (MI),
Wyden (OR)