Laura
04-24-2008, 06:42 PM
http://www.silive.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/news/1209041113216580.xml&coll=1
Advocates say Medicaid regulations may gut services on Island
House votes to extend for 1 year a moratorium on 7 new rules
Thursday, April 24, 2008
By TOM WROBLESKI
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- In the face of President Bush's threatened veto, the House voted yesterday to extend for one year a moratorium on seven new Medicaid regulations that advocates on Staten Island and elsewhere say will gut services for the disabled, including children.
House members voted 349-62 to extend the moratorium until April 1, 2009. The moratorium was put in place after the original rules changes were approved, and it was set to expire on June 30.
Rep. Vito Fossella (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn) voted in favor of extending the moratorium.
"This bill will preserve access to care and help protect the health of millions of Americans," said Fossella, a co-sponsor of the extension bill, H.R. 5613. "While we need to achieve cost savings in Medicaid to ensure the long-term viability of the program, limiting access to care for those in need is the wrong way to go."
The Bush administration instituted the rules with the aim of saving the Treasury about $13 billion over five years and $33 billion over 10 years by curbing what it called waste and abuse in the state-federal partnership that provides health coverage and nursing home care to the poor.
But the proposed changes have met opposition from states, health care providers and advocates for the poor, who say they will shift costs from the federal government to the states and create new hardships for the needy. The governors of all 50 states, state Medicaid directors and others oppose the rules.
The proposed rules would affect programs involved in payments to public safety net institutions, rehabilitation services for people with disabilities, coverage of hospital clinical services, graduate medical education payments and specialized medical transportation to school for children covered by Medicaid.
Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), the Energy and Commerce Committee chairman, told the House, "They know the devastating effects these rules would have on local communities, upon hospitals and upon vulnerable beneficiaries."
Dingell's committee, on which Fossella sits, approved the bill earlier this month on a 46-0 vote.
The White House, in a statement Tuesday communicating the veto threat, claimed the bill would "thwart these efforts of the federal government to regain fiscal accountability and integrity in Medicaid."
Delaying the rules changes until next year would cost about $1.6 billion.
The measure now goes to the Senate Finance Committee.
Tom Wrobleski may be reached at wrobleski@siadvance.com. Read his polit.bureau blog at http://www.silive.com/newslogs/politics/.
© 2008 Staten Island Advance
© 2008 SILive.com All Rights Reserved.
Advocates say Medicaid regulations may gut services on Island
House votes to extend for 1 year a moratorium on 7 new rules
Thursday, April 24, 2008
By TOM WROBLESKI
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- In the face of President Bush's threatened veto, the House voted yesterday to extend for one year a moratorium on seven new Medicaid regulations that advocates on Staten Island and elsewhere say will gut services for the disabled, including children.
House members voted 349-62 to extend the moratorium until April 1, 2009. The moratorium was put in place after the original rules changes were approved, and it was set to expire on June 30.
Rep. Vito Fossella (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn) voted in favor of extending the moratorium.
"This bill will preserve access to care and help protect the health of millions of Americans," said Fossella, a co-sponsor of the extension bill, H.R. 5613. "While we need to achieve cost savings in Medicaid to ensure the long-term viability of the program, limiting access to care for those in need is the wrong way to go."
The Bush administration instituted the rules with the aim of saving the Treasury about $13 billion over five years and $33 billion over 10 years by curbing what it called waste and abuse in the state-federal partnership that provides health coverage and nursing home care to the poor.
But the proposed changes have met opposition from states, health care providers and advocates for the poor, who say they will shift costs from the federal government to the states and create new hardships for the needy. The governors of all 50 states, state Medicaid directors and others oppose the rules.
The proposed rules would affect programs involved in payments to public safety net institutions, rehabilitation services for people with disabilities, coverage of hospital clinical services, graduate medical education payments and specialized medical transportation to school for children covered by Medicaid.
Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), the Energy and Commerce Committee chairman, told the House, "They know the devastating effects these rules would have on local communities, upon hospitals and upon vulnerable beneficiaries."
Dingell's committee, on which Fossella sits, approved the bill earlier this month on a 46-0 vote.
The White House, in a statement Tuesday communicating the veto threat, claimed the bill would "thwart these efforts of the federal government to regain fiscal accountability and integrity in Medicaid."
Delaying the rules changes until next year would cost about $1.6 billion.
The measure now goes to the Senate Finance Committee.
Tom Wrobleski may be reached at wrobleski@siadvance.com. Read his polit.bureau blog at http://www.silive.com/newslogs/politics/.
© 2008 Staten Island Advance
© 2008 SILive.com All Rights Reserved.