DC - McEntee: ‘Increase Medicaid Help for States’

Washington, DC

On Capitol Hill - President McEntee told members of a House panel to boost federal matching funds to states for Medicaid expenses.
Photo Credit: Lloyd Wolf

Pres. Gerald W. McEntee called on Congress recently to raise federal assistance to state Medicaid programs.

Testifying before the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, McEntee said that a “short-term increase in federal assistance to state Medicaid programs to stave off cuts during this economic downturn is a vital economic investment in our nation — and I would submit — a moral imperative as well.”

The effort to get aid to the states has been spearheaded in the House of Representatives by the subcommittee’s chairman, Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.), and Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.). They hope to temporarily boost the federal matching rate for Medicaid, otherwise known as the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage or FMAP. But that effort — a top priority for AFSCME — has been strongly opposed by President Bush and GOP congressional leaders.

The affects of a weakening economy are com-bining to put a further squeeze on state budgets. Tax revenues are down just at the time when the state Medicaid rolls are growing — a consequence of rising unemployment. The blending of these two trends is hurting the ability of states to deliver other critical public services, to invest in education, provide aid to local governments or even to deal with the growing need to maintain and improve roads and bridges.

Raising the Medicaid funding would allow states to address the growing number of uninsured citizens and also relieve the pressure on states to cut other vital services. At least 29 states currently face a total budget shortfall of $48 billion or more, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

McEntee explained the effort to raise Medicaid funding for states “recognizes that the state fiscal crisis will further weaken our health care delivery system and that immediate action by the federal government is necessary to prevent additional health care cuts in Medicaid. 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.”