Burton takes CNMI Medicaid woes to House floor

Congressman Dan Burton, chairman of the Subcommittee on Wellness and Human Rights, spoke Wednesday on the floor of the House of Representatives in support of raising the funding ceiling on all Medicaid funding to U.S. Territories.

Burton visited the CNMI and Guam last December for a first hand examination of the health care problems faced by those territories’ respective health departments. After returning to Washington, he convened a hearing on the state of health care in U.S. Territories and Freely Associated nations. Gov. Juan Babauta and Health Secretary Dr. James Hofschneider testified at the hearing.

“They have an absolute epidemic of type 2 diabetes. They do not have enough equipment over there to take care of the population. People are literally dying because they cannot be taken care of as far as their dialysis is concerned. They are running those machines 24 hours a day, Mr. Chairman. The people cannot get health care,” Burton explained to the 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Burton told the story of a former Speaker of the Guam Legislature who had to be flown to Hawaii for life-saving treatment.

“The people of that area of the world, American citizens are dying because they cannot get adequate health care, and the economy has been very hard over there. So I would just like to say to my good friend the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Regula), and the Committee on Appropriations, something has to be done about the problem in Guam, .the Northern Marianas and American Samoa, because those people over there are simply not getting health care. It is not a question of the quality of health care; they are not getting health care. They do not have enough dialysis machines, they do not have enough equipment to take care of the people with heart trouble, and as I said before, they are having to go all the way to Hawaii, which is a four to six hour plane ride, to have their lives saved.”

He concluded by saying, “will bring it to the attention of the authorizing committee.”

Pete A. Tenorio, CNMI Resident Representative, was very pleased by Burton’s comments before the House of Representatives. “It is good to have such a good friend among the leadership in the House, and I hope that through the efforts of Congressman Burton and the territorial delegates, the Medicaid caps for the territories would be lifted as soon as possible.”