DELEGATES from the U.S. territories have sent a letter to Republican Delegate Fred Upton to reconsider his proposal to cut $6.3 billion in Medicaid funding for the territories from Fiscal Years 2011 to 2019.

Upton, chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, has introduced legislation that seeks to repeal a provision in the Affordable Care Act that provided for billions of dollars in additional funding for Medicaid in the territories and also increased the territories’ Federal Medical Assistance Percentage from 50 percent to 55.

The measure was introduced to meet spending targets in concert with Congressman Paul Ryan’s House Budget Act that also proposes to slash critically-needed funding for Medicaid by $810 billion and to transform Medicare into a voucher program. The Ryan Act passed by a partisan vote of 228 to 191 late last month.

Guam Delegate Madeleine Bordallo, who was among those who signed the letter to Upton, said Medicaid funding for Guam through the ACA was included to mitigate the inequality that exists between the states and the territories and to address shortfalls due to the Medicaid cap on Guam, Puerto Rico, the CNMI, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Critical

“The Republican attempt to eliminate critical Medicaid funding for the territories shifts the funding problem back to the territories,” Bordallo said. “Rather than working with us to remove the cap by decreasing the local match, the Republicans have reduced our funding. This funding has helped to provide critical services for residents in the territories who depend on Medicaid for health coverage, and the loss of these additional funds would negate important progress toward reducing health disparities among the territories.”

Under the ACA, Guam’s Medicaid funding doubled to more than $25 million in FY2011 and will nearly double again this fiscal year to $42 million. Medicaid assistance on Guam will continue to rise for the rest of the decade, reaching approximately $58 million by 2019.

If the Republican proposals were to pass into law, Guam’s Medicaid funding would revert back to pre-ACA levels and FMAP would be reduced back to 50 percent.

The Ryan Act was introduced to cut spending, reduce taxes, and overhaul Medicaid and Medicare in an effort to save the government from a “European-style meltdown.”

The Ryan Act requires the Energy and Commerce Committee to reduce the deficit by $96.76 billion over the next decade.

“The Ryan Budget takes the Medicaid cap idea and instead of repealing the Medicaid cap, it extends a Medicaid cap in all the states. The Medicaid cap does not work in the territories and there is no basis to claim it will work in the states,” Bordallo added.

The bill was considered by the full Energy and Commerce Committee yesterday and is expected to be considered on the House floor in the coming weeks.