Senators Express Concern
Over Medicaid Cuts in House-Passed Budget Resolution
March 28, 2003 - During the Senate debate on S.
Con. Res. 23 (see related story),
support for the Senate's Medicaid spending provisions were
bolstered through a Sense of the Senate amendment and a Medicaid
letter signed by 79 Senators opposing the House budget resolution's
Medicaid cuts. Medicaid spending will be a key issue that
needs to be resolved in the House and Senate conference on
the FY 2004 Budget resolution.
Sen. John Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) March 20 offered a Sense
of the Senate amendment that would provide fiscal relief for
states. Sen. Rockefeller urged that fiscal relief for states
be included in any economic growth package. His amendment,
which passed 80-19, would provide $30 billion over 10 years
in fiscal relief to states, approximately half of which would
come in the form of Medicaid spending.
On March 26, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuch Grassley
(R-Iowa), Ranking Minority Member Max Baucus (D-Mont.), and
77 of their colleagues signed a Medicaid
letter (PDF, 9 pages - 1.57MB) opposing "the
inclusion of any Medicaid cuts in the final budget resolution."
The letter, addressed to Senate and House Budget Committee
leaders who will be conferees, bolsters support for the Senate
budget resolution's Medicaid spending provisions.
Under the House version of the resolution, the Energy and
Commerce Committee is required to reduce mandatory programs
within its jurisdiction, including Medicaid, by $107 billion
over 10 years. It is estimated that approximately $93 billion
of these reductions could come from Medicaid.
To appease a number of House Republicans who complained about
the potential Medicaid cuts during the House floor debate
on its budget resolution, House Budget Committee Chairman
Jim Nussle (R-Iowa) committed to "bringing the level
of mandatory spending for Medicaid for fiscal year 2004 up
to the level which will not require any reductions from the
CBO baseline levels."
The AAMC, along with 29 hospital and advocacy organizations,
is working to prevent the inclusion of the Medicaid cuts in
the final conference version. A letter
(PDF, 2 pages - 71KB) was sent to the conferees signed
by the AAMC and other health provider organizations states,
"It is inconceivable that $93 billion can be cut from
the Medicaid program….To attain such sums, the meat and
the bone of the Medicaid program would have to be drastically
carved up."
Information:
Lynne Davis Boyle, Assistant Vice President
AAMC Office of Governmental Relations
ldavisboyle@aamc.org
(202) 828-0526
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