On the recordMarch 17, 2017
As this week and the week before have passed, I watched Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle debate the better parts of either the Affordable Care Act or its replacement, the American Health Care Act. For the people I represent, the people of the Northern Marianas and of the insular areas, none of this matters to us. None of those mandates, none of those subsidies ever applied to us. The one thing that did apply to us was Medicaid--not expansion, not the regular program, but the block grant for Medicaid--which has now just been completely taken out of the bill before us. There are 14,000 participants on Medicaid in the Northern Marianas. Over 10,000 are children and students. Come October 1, 2019, they will no longer have access to health care because they lose their Medicaid coverage. ____________________
