[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 65 (Wednesday, April 23, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E696]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             PROTECTING THE MEDICAID SAFETY NET ACT OF 2008

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 22, 2008

  Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I would like to express my 
strong support of H.R. 5613, the Medicaid Safety Net Act of 2008. This 
important legislation will prevent the implementation of seven Medicaid 
regulations before April 2009. Passage of H.R. 5613 is vitally 
important to my home state of New York. These regulations are estimated 
to cut Medicaid funding by nearly $20 billion over five years and will 
impact payments for safety net providers, hospital clinic services, 
rehabilitation services, graduate medical education and case management 
services. In my home district, the New York
  City Health and Hospitals Corporation, HHC, the largest municipal 
hospital system in the country, would lose over $500 million a year, 10 
percent of the HHC budget. To give perspective, HHC operates 11 acute 
care hospitals and more than 80 community clinics which serve 1.3 
million patients, 400,000 of whom are uninsured.
  Another of the proposed regulations would eliminate Medicaid funding 
for graduate medical education, GME. My district is a center for 
graduate medical education. If the GME proposed regulation goes into 
effect, the impact would be devastating to New York teaching hospitals 
which educate a disproportionate number of our nations doctors. New 
York trains one of every seven doctors in the country. The loss of 
Medicaid funding for physician training would be $590 million a year 
for all of the hospitals in New York City and $675 million a year for 
all of the hospitals in New York State. Reducing the GME would not only 
dramatically impact New York, it would negatively impact the entire 
country which relies on New York trained doctors.
  We must not rush to cut services to beneficiaries. Instead, Congress 
must have the opportunity to thoughtfully and deliberately evaluate 
what is happening in the States and address any concerns.

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