Moran: Health Care Reform Must Protect Seniors, State Budgets

Press Release

Moran: Health Care Reform Must Protect Seniors, State Budgets

Urges House to Strengthen Medicare and Medicaid before Expanding Government

Congressman Jerry Moran today introduced a resolution urging the House of Representatives to invest Medicare and Medicaid savings back into the programs instead of funding a new government-sponsored health care program.

"We need to bring some common-sense thinking to health care reform," said Moran. "As we work to fix our broken system, we must preserve Medicare and protect the 45 million seniors across the country that depend on Medicare for their health care needs. Additionally, as states are struggling to pay their Medicaid obligations, we need to protect states from unfunded Medicaid mandates. We should not exacerbate the problem by creating another government-run entitlement program. Siphoning money from cash-strapped programs to expand other programs will not help seniors or the disadvantaged."

Moran's legislation states if Congress finds savings within the Medicare and Medicaid programs, those savings should be placed back into the programs rather than creating new entitlements. President Obama is seeking to generate Medicare and Medicaid savings by boosting the power of federal advisory boards to set Medicare payment policy and cutting payments to hospitals that serve a disproportionate number of low-income patients.

Recent projections report the Medicare program to be bankrupt by 2017. Additionally, the Medicare trustees recently reported that the "unfunded liability" of Medicare, or amount of benefits promised that are not covered by taxes, is nearly $38 trillion over the next 75 years.

"Our hospitals and other care facilities already operate on razor-thin margins because they serve an increasingly aging population across a wide geographic area and receive a Medicare reimbursement level at or below cost," Moran continued. "Reducing reimbursements to fund a new government-sponsored health care program will mean fewer providers and diminished health care access for Kansans. With the staggering shortfall facing Medicare, I do not see how the House Democrats' plan can deliver the care our seniors currently receive without cutting critical health services and limiting care options in Kansas."

Moran is Chairman of the House Rural Health Care Coalition and co-founder of the Congressional Community Pharmacy Coalition.

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