Gregorio Sablan: “The Mariana Islands and four other U.S. insular areas face a Medicaid ``cliff''. Funding included in the Patient…”

“The Mariana Islands and four other U.S. insular areas face a Medicaid ``cliff''. Funding included in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act expires this year. Two-thirds of our annual Medicaid funding disappears, gone, putting healthcare at risk not just for Medicaid recipients, but for everyone who uses our hospital or other providers, because they depend as well on Medicaid revenues to stay in business or open. I held a hearing last month on this Medicaid cliff. Chair Eshoo held a hearing yesterday, for which I am grateful. This attention is good. We need Congress to focus on this impending healthcare crisis for Americans living in the insular areas. Certainly, more money is needed. Treat the insular areas like the States. But the goal is not just money. What we want is medical care for those who need it in the insular areas to be every bit as good as medical care anywhere in America. ____________________”