Washington, D.C.-House Energy and Commerce Republican Leader Cathy McMorris Rodgers delivered opening remarks at Wednesday’s Health Subcommittee hearing on protecting access to health care in United States territories.
Excerpts and highlights from her remarks:
“Increased funding for Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa expires September 30th.
“I am committed to reauthorizing funding in a way that is best for the people who get Medicaid care in the territories.
“I hope that we can work together on this issue, to ensure Medicaid is caring for our most vulnerable in the territories and across America.
“As I’ve said many times before, we should be coming together in a bipartisan way to modernize and improve Medicaid- especially for pregnant women and people with disabilities.
“However, I want to be sure that we discuss three problems I have with this hearing before we have a discussion about extending these important programs."
WITNESSES AND LACK OF INFORMATION
“First, it’s important that we hear from the territories themselves and get to ask them questions about their programs.
“There are serious and valid concerns about how we oversee the Medicaid programs in the territories.
“If this hearing was later in the year, the OIG could provide an update on their audits. We could review Puerto Rico’s report that is due in June.
“Over the last decade, there has been a dramatic increase in the amount of federal taxpayer dollars going to Medicaid programs in the territories.
“Are we seeing health outcome improvements with that spending?
“And, if we don’t have the data to answer that question, there’s a gap that we need to address in this reauthorization.
CONCERNS WITH LEGISLATION
“Second, we are going to a straight legislative hearing on two partisan bills. These bills only have Democratic co-sponsors and they were drafted, unfortunately, without any input from the Republicans.
“These bills do not address program integrity, or getting better data on health care outcomes for those that are in Medicaid.
“In addition, the last time this committee met on these programs, it reported out bipartisan legislation. It is our hope that the Majority work with us on this moving forward.
“Let’s not forget that it was this Committee who moved a bipartisan bill out of Committee two years ago that would have funded Puerto Rico for four years and the other territories for six years.
“That work should be our model of how to proceed this year."
NURSING HOME DEATHS
“My third and final concern is not related to the territories but to request that we do some more work on additional challenges in the Medicaid space.
“We should be investigating the devastating reports about New York underreporting COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes. Families deserve justice.
“As I wrote to the Majority two weeks ago, ‘we should also be working together to understand more about the troubling reports regarding certain states undercounting-and potentially falsifying reports of COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes. It appears that a few states took actions early that increased the COVID-19 crisis in nursing homes. Washington State was one of the first states with an outbreak of COVID-19 and nursing homes were especially hard hit.’
“Washington State provided additional Medicaid funds to nursing homes accepting COVID-19 patients. We should investigate whether the incentive of increased Medicaid dollars made the crisis worse.
“This is an important hearing, and I’m disappointed that we will not hear or to get to ask the questions that I believe need to be asked. We should be.
“Instead, we are going straight to a legislative hearing on two partisan bills, when we should be gathering the facts and working together on legislation to continue federal support of these vital programs.
“I also implore the Majority to schedule a hearing as soon as possible to learn more about the tools are available to ensure states accurately report nursing home deaths from COVID-19 or any infectious disease, and to ensure that future pandemics and Medicaid dollars aren’t used as an incentive that ends up further endangering nursing home patients.
“We owe the families of who lost someone to COVID-19 nothing less."
