Jay Rockefeller: “this budget is about choices. We in Congress can choose to protect Medicaid, the Federal safety net for over 50 million…”

“this budget is about choices. We in Congress can choose to protect Medicaid, the Federal safety net for over 50 million Americans, by supporting the Baucus motion to instruct. Or we can turn our backs on the millions of working families who would otherwise be uninsured without the Federal guarantee of Medicaid benefits by giving States the green light to charge more in monthly premiums than are charged in monthly premiums under Medicare; by allowing Medicaid cost-sharing that can grow six times faster than wages; by permitting States to provide fewer Medicaid benefits to recipients in rural areas than those offered to recipients in urban areas; and by asking hospitals, pharmacists, and other health care providers to continue to participate in the Medicaid program even if they cannot cover their costs. If the Senate recedes to the House on Medicaid, then we will begin to undo one of the most important social programs of our time. And people and health care providers in our respective States will suffer greatly. In West Virginia, nearly 20 percent of our State's population--over 350,000 people--depend on Medicaid for access to health care. Not only is it unfair to consider such draconian changes to the Medicaid Program in the context of meeting an arbitrary budget number, it is also unwarranted. Some of my colleagues have argued that Congress must reduce spending in Medicaid in order to decrease the Federal deficit.…”