NYSACRA

In an emergency conference call to its members last week, ANCOR, NYSACRA’s national association, provided experts from Georgetown University, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the National Governors Association.

The CRITICAL issue is that Medicaid is in serious jeopardy of being cut, capped or block granted.  NYSACRA members must ACT!!!
Click Here to Take Action NOW!

WHAT MUST WE DO?

Tell the Real Story About Medicaid: It Is A Successful Program.  It Enables Voluntary Not-for-profit agencies to Enhance the Lives of People With Developmental Disabilities

Let Congress know that Medicaid Must Remain a High Priority for Congress, and, that you vote!!  Contact Your U.S. Senators and Representatives IMMEDIATELY!

What Is The Message?

NO CUTS, CAPS OR OTHER MAJOR STRUCTURAL CHANGES IN MEDICAID SHOULD BE MADE THROUGH THE CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET AND RECONCILIATION PROCESS!

What Is The Issue?

Each year Congress develops a budget resolution - a blueprint for determining targets for federal spending for domestic discretionary programs (housing, vocational education, transportation) and entitlement programs (Medicaid and Medicare) - as well as setting tax and revenue policies. The process begins when the President sends his fiscal year budget proposal to Congress in early February. With the federal budget soaring and all parties eager to reduce the drain that a deficit has on our nation's economy, Congress is being asked by the President to cut that federal deficit in half by 2010.

What Is The Time Frame?

The Week of March 7th Is Urgent to NYSACRA Members!!    The next step in the budget process is for the House and Senate Budget Committees to complete work on a budget resolution - during the week of March 7th - once Congress returns from its one-week recess. By setting spending and tax targets, Congress also sets forth our national priorities-not only for the next year, but for the next five or ten years. Ultimately, these priorities reflect our nation's values. An adequately funded Medicaid program that guarantees a comprehensive set of health and long-term services financed by an open-ended financing structure deserves to be a top priority of Congress.

What's Different This Year?

The Congressional budget and reconciliation process will be more critical this year than in past years. Congress is expected to include Medicaid reconciliation language within the budget resolution - written instructions that tell the Senate Finance and House Energy and Commerce Committees to reduce federal Medicaid spending by at least $60 billion over the next ten years - the amount proposed by President Bush in his FY 2006 budget proposal. Although the President provided specific policy changes for these cuts, the budget resolution will only establish the size of these cuts - not determine the policy for achieving these savings.

The specific Medicaid policy will be left up to the Senate Finance and House Energy and Commerce Committees to work out. Furthermore, the budget committees can decide to make even deeper cuts than $60 billion in Medicaid. Large cuts will force the Senate Finance and House Energy and Commerce Committees to settle on caps or block granting of Medicaid as the only way to limit spending and achieve the targeted savings.

Congress Must Not Use the Budget and Reconciliation Process to Reform Medicaid!!!

NYSACRA joins with ANCOR, other associations and the governors in raising grave concern over deep cuts that will trigger caps and other major structural changes that will shift the burden of the federal deficit not only to states - but also to providers and people with disabilities. NYSACRA believes, as does ANCOR, that this open-ended entitlement program has historically done the job the nation has asked - providing the safety net of health and long-term services to our most vulnerable citizens - people with disabilities, children, and seniors.

Has Medicaid Worked?

Historically, it has done its job well - uniting the nation through a federal and state partnership in investing in our common health and long-term care priorities. Designed as a safety net, Medicaid has not only met this challenge, but has been called on to serve as the nation's primary public funder of all long-term care services and to address an ever growing number of uninsured Americans - currently 45 million people.

To respond to the real challenges facing the nation, federal and state policy makers must address the growth of all health care costs. Focusing only on cutting the Medicaid program will not solve the real problem - but, in fact, avoids the real problems.

What Should I Keep In Mind?

• Medicaid Guarantees Coverage for More than 8 Million People with Disabilities.

• There is no other health and long-term care coverage available at any cost that provides the comprehensive range of services and supports necessary to enable people with severe disabilities to live and work in their communities.

• Medicaid Provides Economic Stimulus to States and Localities

• Medicaid has proven itself to be a highly effective engine of economic development. Medicaid returns $1.92 to $6.22 in new economic activity for every state dollar spent and generates at least 70,000 jobs per state.

• Medicaid Enables All Other Parts of the Health Care System To Work.

• Medicaid covers people with disabilities that cannot get private coverage - people who private insurers generally do not cover. Medicaid is more efficient than traditional private health insurance programs and costs less per person than private coverage for people with similar health status. Per person Medicaid spending rose 6.7% from 2002-2004 – almost half the rate of the private market (12.5%), despite Medicaid serving a sicker population. Keep in mind that 42% of all Medicaid expenditures were spent on Medicare beneficiaries - financing half the coverage needed by Medicare's low-income beneficiaries.

What Can I Do?

WE MUST TAKE ACTION NOW!!

You must take action to send a clear message to your Senators and Representative about Medicaid. Providers need to help decision-makers at all levels of government as well as the public understand the importance and the value of Medicaid.

What Is the MESSAGE?

Major changes to Medicaid should adhere to the following key principles:

• Medicaid Works! Tell individual, personal stories of Medicaid's successes.
   
• No federal proposal should harm Medicaid beneficiaries or the providers that support them.
   
• Medicaid has not created the federal deficit. Large cuts or caps will shift the cost burden to the states.
   
• Major changes and cuts should not be made to Medicaid through the budget resolution and reconciliation process.
   
• Any savings derived from efficiencies in Medicaid must be reinvested in Medicaid.

How Should I Convey My Message?

1. Schedule meetings during the Congressional Recess Week of February 21st with your Representative and Senators and their staff while they are at home working in their districts. Use the information from the sample letters, talking points, and your personal stories to drive home your message. Check NYSACRA’s Action & Education Center at www.nysacra.org for information.

2. Send Letters using NYSACRA’s Action & Education Center to contact your Representative and Senators with an email message. NYSACRA has provided a sample letter based on one developed by our national association, ANCOR.  Use as is or edit to your personal specifications. With some minor edits, the letters can also serve as op-ed pieces to your local newspaper.

3. Key Congressional targets that are critical for NYSACRA members include the following lawmaker and their committee:
    
   - House Energy and Commerce Committee – Vito Fossella, Eliot Engel  and Edolphus Towns

- Senate Finance Committee – Chuck Schumer

Call NYSACRA with any questions about this issue.  Please act now!

For more information visit the following websites. The above information has been provided by ANCOR to NYSACRA.   www.ANCOR.org , www.FamiliesUSA.org, www.KFF.org, or www.cbpp.org.