February 12, 2007
Dear Madam Speaker and Mr. Majority Leader:
The undersigned organizations are dedicated to the provision of high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans, including the 57 million Americans who rely on the Medicaid program for their health care. The purpose of this letter is to express our strenuous opposition to a new Medicaid regulation that was published by the Bush Administration in the Federal Register on January 18, 2007. Stopping implementation of this regulation is imperative to avoid a devastating impact on the ability of Medicaid patients and the uninsured to receive necessary health care services, and requires the immediate attention of the 110th Congress.
Review of the proposed regulation indicates that its impact will be specifically targeted on providers serving America’s most vulnerable children, seniors, people with disabilities and low income families through the Medicaid program. The regulation will single out these providers for drastic reductions in reimbursement and will have the likely impact of substantially reducing or eliminating critical services for Medicaid patients and the uninsured in many parts of the country. At a time when states are working toward expanding health care coverage for the uninsured, the CMS’s proposal would thwart their progress by weakening an already fragile safety net and will likely increase the number of uninsured Americans rather than help improve our health care system.
The Bush Administration is claiming that this new regulation is needed to protect the fiscal integrity of the Medicaid program. This is a goal that we wholeheartedly share. However, the proposed regulation goes far beyond the steps that would be necessary to achieve this stated goal. We firmly believe the impact of this proposed regulation would be to undermine the already fragile viability of our nation’s health care safety net and reduce or eliminate access to health care services for many millions of low income patients.
Last year, 300 members of the House and 55 Senators wrote to the Bush Administration to express their concern about the impact of this proposed regulation and to urge the President not to move ahead with it. Now that it appears that your advice is being ignored. We urge you to take the next step and enact legislation to stop implementation of this proposed rule and help protect America’s most vulnerable populations.
Sincerely,
AIDS Foundation of Chicago
Alliance for Children and Families
American Academy of HIV Medicine
American Academy of Pediatrics
American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging
American Association of People with Disabilities
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
American Network of Community Options and Resources
American Psychiatric Association
American Public Health Association
Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
California State Association of Counties
Center for Adolescent Health & the Law
Children's Defense Fund
Coalition on Human Needs
Community Catalyst
Consumers Union
County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania
County Welfare Directors Association of California
Families USA
First Focus
HIVictorious
Institute of Social Medicine and Community Health
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago
Mental Health/Mental Retardation Administrators Association of Pennsylvania
National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd
National Association of Community Health Centers
National Association of County Behavioral Health and Developmental Disability Directors
National Association of County Human Services Administrators
National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services
National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare
National Council on Independent Living
National Education Association
National Health Law Program
National Immigration Law Center
National Senior Citizens Law Center
National Women's Health Network
National Women's Law Center
NETWORK: A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby
New York AIDS Coalition
Not Dead Yet
Pennsylvania Association of County Human Services Administrators
Premier Inc
Project Inform
Protestants for the Common Good
RESULTS
Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law
Service Employees International Union
The AIDS Institute
Title II Community AIDS National Network (TIICANN)
United Jewish Communities
USAction
| 