Chuck Grassley: “We also include policies that give States the option of asking for a limited set of Medicaid beneficiaries to share in…”

“We also include policies that give States the option of asking for a limited set of Medicaid beneficiaries to share in the cost of their care. The cost-sharing policy excludes anyone under the Federal poverty level, mandatory children, adoption or foster care children, preventative care and immunizations for all children, pregnancy-related services, hospice residents, and women who qualify for Medicaid under the breast and cervical cancer eligibility group. It is a reasonable, responsible policy that I encourage my colleagues to support. These are all modifications of what the House of Representatives did in their provisions in this area. These are important, measured first steps that our Governors, in this communication to the Congress to which I previously referred, have asked for, on a bipartisan basis, to reform the Medicaid Program. Now, the Medicaid Program is a Federal-State program. It is a big cost to the Governors. If we have Governors, 50 of them, of both political parties, coming to us and saying: We can tell you how to spend your taxpayers' dollars more wisely, and we will save some money at the State level, and we will be able to serve more people--they came to us and said that to us. And this document responds to that. I don't know how 100 Senators can put their judgment--just in case they disagree with what we are trying to do. I suppose if they agree, this doesn't apply to them.…”