June 21, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 105 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Page H5028]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             MEDICAID CLIFF

  (Mr. SABLAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. SABLAN. Madam Speaker, the Mariana Islands and four other U.S. 
insular areas face a Medicaid ``cliff''.
  Funding included in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 
expires this year.
  Two-thirds of our annual Medicaid funding disappears, gone, putting 
healthcare at risk not just for Medicaid recipients, but for everyone 
who uses our hospital or other providers, because they depend as well 
on Medicaid revenues to stay in business or open.
  I held a hearing last month on this Medicaid cliff. Chair Eshoo held 
a hearing yesterday, for which I am grateful.
  This attention is good. We need Congress to focus on this impending 
healthcare crisis for Americans living in the insular areas.
  Certainly, more money is needed. Treat the insular areas like the 
States.
  But the goal is not just money.
  What we want is medical care for those who need it in the insular 
areas to be every bit as good as medical care anywhere in America.

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