WASHINGTON, DC -House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton and Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Orrin Hatch today sent a letter to the governors of all 50 states and the U.S. territories requesting feedback and ideas to improve the Medicaid program. Medicaid consumes nearly a quarter of state government budgets -a significant driver of the current $175 billion collective state budget shortfall.
“We are concerned that the program is failing patients; is a target for waste, fraud, and abuse; and is bankrupting both state and federal governments," the letter reads. “We have heard many governors - both Democrat and Republican - express the need for Medicaid reform. We ask for your help as governors as we seek to develop specific solutions for Medicaid."
“Our goal is to empower the states to design and implement innovative Medicaid solutions that work for their states. Medicaid must be reformed to better serve its beneficiaries and to better use taxpayer dollars, and we ask you to join us in a comprehensive effort. You have run Medicaid programs and are in the best position to tell Washington how to fix Medicaid. We ask for your feedback on both the challenges you have faced and for your ideas on how to make Medicaid work better," the letter concludes.
