Dreier Addresses California's Health Care
Funding Crisis on House Floor
July 12, 2002
Also Available: Transcript | Audio | Video (56k) | Video (xDSL/Cable)
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congressman David Dreier (R-CA), Chairman of the House Rules Committee, gave a special order speech on the floor of the House of Representatives today addressing the future of federal health care funding in the state of California. Currently, the state is facing severe funding cuts at the federal, state, and local level.
"The public health system in California is at a critical juncture and we must act now to prevent a crisis that will affect tens of millions of Californians," Dreier said. "That is why I stand here today to ask for the support of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to find a common-sense solution to this impending crisis. We must protect California's public health system from a financial disaster. Our constituents deserve no less."
Dreier spoke out today to address his concern about a proposal put forward by Tom Scully, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Under this proposal, the Medicaid Upper Payment Limit (UPL) program would reduce it's reimbursement levels from 150% to 100%. The decision was made by CMS because some states were found to be abusing the program, but California was not. This reduction in reimbursement would translate into $300 million per year in lost Medicare funding for the state of California. As state and local officials have also indicated they will be forced to cut funding, this loss of critical federal funds would severely hinder the ability of California's public hospitals' ability to provide care for the state's neediest citizens.
"A decreased upper payment limit would force both public and private hospitals in California to curtail emergency and trauma care services," Dreier said. "This could result in an absurd situation from Claremont would have to fight 30 miles of rush hour traffic to LA-USC Medical Center for an open trauma center. The prospect of such an occurrence is simply unacceptable."
