NEWS RELEASECommittee on Energy and Commerce
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For Immediate Release:
August 22, 2008
Contact: Jodi Seth and Brin Frazier / 202-225-5735
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Lawmakers Urge HHS Against Approving
Rhode Island Medicaid Waiver
Lawmakers Raise Concerns that Waiver Will Create Obstacles for Medicaid Beneficiaries Seeking Health Care Services
Washington, D.C. – Reps. John D. Dingell (D-MI), Chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Health, joined with Rhode Island Democratic Representatives Patrick J. Kennedy and James R. Langevin today in sending a letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Michael O. Leavitt, urging him not to approve a proposal recently submitted by the State of Rhode Island to modify its Medicaid program through a Section 1115 waiver. The lawmakers believe the waiver, in its current form, will harm Medicaid beneficiaries by denying or restricting access to health coverage and will be detrimental to the long term success of the Federal-State Medicaid partnership.
 Prepared by the Committee on Energy and Commerce |
