Feingold Leads Delegation Effort Urging Administration to Extend SeniorCare

FEINGOLD LEADS DELEGATION EFFORT URGING ADMINISTRATION TO EXTEND SENIORCARE

Wisconsin Congressional Delegation Members Push for Continuance of Successful State Health Care Program

U.S. Senator Russ Feingold is leading the Wisconsin congressional delegation's effort to push for the continuance of SeniorCare. In a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt, members of the Wisconsin congressional delegation strongly urged the administration to approve a waiver to extend the program to June 30, 2010. Without the waiver, SeniorCare will expire on June 30, 2007.

"I hear nothing but good things about SeniorCare when folks in Wisconsin talk to me about the program," Feingold said. "That is why it is frustrating that the Administration is proposing to cut a program which is more popular and less expensive than the Administration's flawed alternative."

In the bipartisan letter, the delegation members wrote to Leavitt that denying SeniorCare a waiver would cost taxpayers more money. The average annual federal subsidy for a SeniorCare waiver participant is $617, less than half the $1,174 the federal government spends to subsidize a Medicare Part D participant. The SeniorCare waiver has consistently achieved budget neutrality and has, in fact saved $669 million in Medicaid funding. These savings are the direct result of reduced Medicaid payments for hospital and nursing home care because seniors with SeniorCare prescription drug coverage have stayed healthier longer. The letter was signed by Feingold, Senator Herb Kohl, and Representatives Obey, Sensenbrenner, Petri, Kind, Ryan, Baldwin, Moore, and Kagen.

"I will continue to work with Governor Doyle and the members of the Wisconsin congressional delegation to do all we can to preserve SeniorCare," Feingold said. "The Administration should do what makes sense and approve SeniorCare's extension."

http://feingold.senate.gov/~feingold/releases/07/03/20070302seniorcare.html