In my family's native island of Puerto Rico, only 30 percent of people are on employer-based insurance.

We are losing providers, we are losing doctors.

For my island, the Medicaid cap set by statute for Fiscal Year 2020 will be approximately $375 million.

In the case of Puerto Rico, as an example, you can have Mississippi and many other states receiving more than $7,000 per enrollee and less than $2,000 to our territory.

I trust that today's testimonies will help my colleagues understand the urgent need for action.

more than half a million American citizens living in Puerto Rico, they are not covered by Medicaid full programs as they were in the states just because of the lack of funding

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

So, the Oversight Board required to the island to include all future plans regarding health care. And that means, if we don't receive the money, the state, in this case Puerto Rico, needs to put up front the money from the state to do the…

I am willing, as the Representative of Puerto Rico, to work across the aisle to reach a long-term solution for the territories.

The DSH money, for the knowledge of the Members, is disproportionate share hospital segment.

If we fail to act with the expediency that the situation requires, the provision of health care in all territories will be severely affected.

You get the gold star for today. Very impressive.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And before my time commences, I want to ask unanimous consent to put in the record a memorandum of the Medicaid financing in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands made by the Kaiser Foundation.

Puerto Rico has 47 percent of poverty level.

That is the reason the FMAP, the formula for the matching funds, needs to be changed.

I have introduced H.R. 2306, the Puerto Rico Medicaid Act, which seeks to strengthen the Medicaid program on the island.

increasing the FMAP and removing the cap will definitely help all the territories.

I am also an original co-sponsor of H.R. 1354, the Territories Health Equity Act, legislation introduced by Congresswoman Plaskett.