NEWS RELEASE
Committee on Energy and Commerce Democrats
Congressman John D. Dingell, Ranking Member

Dingell Hails Families USA Report on Medicaid

Washington, D.C. – Congressman John D. Dingell, Ranking Member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, today hailed a new report by Families USA, Medicaid: Good Medicine for State Economies, that underscores the vital role Medicaid plays in health care in this country. Medicaid provides health coverage to one in six Americans, and more than one-fifth of the nation’s children. Medicaid is the largest single purchaser of maternity care, paying for about 35 percent of all births in the nation, and is the largest single purchaser, nearly 50 percent, of all nursing home care. "Congress needs to focus on decreasing the number of uninsured in this country rather than actively working to increase it," Dingell said. "This report highlights one more reason to shore up states so they can continue their commitment to Medicaid – it’s simply good economics. Medicaid means jobs and jobs mean business. Obviously this is not the time to hinder the stability or growth of either but the Republican-controlled House and Senate led by the President seem determined to do just that."

Medicaid plays a critical role in stimulating state and local economic activity. Every state dollar spent on Medicaid pulls new federal dollars into the state. In Michigan, every $1 in state Medicaid spending generates $2.58 in state business activity -- that’s business activity that translates into jobs and wages across many sectors of the state economy. All told, state Medicaid spending generated an estimated $8.9 billion in business activity in Michigan in 2001.

According to the Families USA study, Medicaid also generated almost 3 million jobs with wages in excess of $100 billion across the country - Michigan being one of the ten states with the largest number of jobs generated by state Medicaid spending, an estimated 98,754 in all. The state also has one of the largest increases in wages attributable to Medicaid spending, an estimated $3.3 billion in 2001.

"I can’t understand why the Bush Administration is so adamantly opposed to a temporary increase in Medicaid assistance to the states," Dingell said. "The Administration claims it wants to reduce the number of uninsured, but refuses to do anything to prevent Americans who currently have coverage from losing it."

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