Contact Monique Clendinen Watson or Monique.Clendinen@mail.house.gov
Delegate to Congress Donna M. Christensen met today with House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn and Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman on Tuesday in advance of the final committee mark-up on HR 3200, the America Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009. “I met with Whip Clyburn to make sure that we had protection for the Medicaid provisions in the House bill and to lay the groundwork for support for language in the HELP and Baucus bills,” she said.
“We are also trying to introduce an amendment in the House on comparative effectiveness, which would ensure that data on minority health concerns will be collected, but are not sure which way it will ultimately go,” Congresswoman Christensen said. “We were also expecting that Senator Schumer would be introducing his amendment to include the territories in the exchange providing residents with more options for coverage,” she said.
The House bill already contains a $10.35 billion increase in Medicaid funding for the territories. In the Senate, provisions to the FMAP for the territories has been increased and will be applied outside the cap up to 133% of the federal poverty level, allowing Medicaid programs in the U.S. territories to capture a significant number of currently uninsured residents by making them newly eligible.
Both House and Senate bills include the U.S. Territories in increased funding to bolster community-based health and wellness efforts, expand health workforce training and diversity, improve Medicare, expand access to care for those who are currently left out, and improve data collection efforts to address specific emerging health and health care needs.
