McEntee Tells Congress: Aid to the States a "Moral Imperative"

by   |  July 22, 2008

The economic woes of our nation are growing, placing state budgets in a tightening vice grip which in turn forces cuts in state spending that slow down economic recovery. As states revenues plummet, the need for Medicaid coverage rises. And so today, AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee, testifying before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Health, called for a short-term increase in federal assistance to state Medicaid programs. Medicaid is how we come together to care for our neighbors and family members who have no options for health care. We rely on Medicaid to help keep the hardships of the economic downturn from damaging the health of children, seniors, individuals with disabilities, and the those whose declining wages or loss of a job have pushed them into poverty. McEntee testified that, "The increase is necessary to stave cuts are necessary to stave off cuts during this economic downturn is a vital economic investment in our nation." He called the federal assistance "a moral imperative." McEntee told the subcommittee that AFSCME strongly supports the bipartisan legislation (H.R. 5268). "By temporarily investing additional federal dollars in Medicaid, the bill focuses assistance to those hit hardest by the economic downturn and protects our nation's health care infrastructure," he said. Said McEntee, "Medicaid matters to us all and must be protected and sustained." Hear hear.