CNMI healthcare officials pleaded with lawmakers for help in the Medicaid cliff facing the islands when they testified in the nation\u2019s capital last week.<\/p>\n
Helen Sablan, CNMI Medicaid Program director, said in her testimony to a U.S. Congress committee that the CNMI is in a \u201cdesperate and dire situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026We are humbly pleading for the U.S. Congress to please help treat the U.S. citizens of the U.S. Commonwealth of the NMI equitably, and if I may humbly ask, quickly,\u201d she said in her testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives\u2019 Natural Resources Committee last May 24. <\/p>\n
Federal funding for Medicaid that was a cornerstone of Obamacare will expire at the end of the year, resulting in a \u201cMedicaid cliff,\u201d which could result in nearly one million U.S. citizens\u2014and thousands of CNMI residents\u2014losing their health care coverage.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026The CNMI Medicaid Program has fallen off the cliff and is currently in freefall,\u201d Sablan said, describing the situation of the CNMI.<\/p>\n
Sablan, along with Commonwealth Health Care Corp. chief executive officer Esther Mu\u00f1a, spoke for improved Medicaid services in insular areas at the invitation of Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP). <\/p>\n
Both Mu\u00f1a and Sablan joined Guam\u2019s, American Samoa\u2019s, Puerto Rico\u2019s, and the U.S. Virgin Islands\u2019 health care representatives to testify.<\/p>\n
In her testimony, Helen Sablan noted that there are 15,316 U.S. citizens in the CNMI who are enrolled in both the Medicaid and Child Health Insurance Program\u201461 percent of the total population of the CNMI.<\/p>\n
\u201cMedicaid and CHIP provides critical healthcare services for about 46 percent of the total U.S. citizens in the CNMI today,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
As it currently stands, Helen Sablan said, the estimated shortfall for the CNMI Medicaid Program in fiscal year 2019 is around $42 million. Yet the Congress-approved H.R. 2157 only estimates the shortfall at $36 million\u2014a $6-million difference.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis will result in another carry-over of accounts payables,\u201d Helen Sablan said.<\/p>\n
In reaction to the seemingly inevitable shortfall, she said that the CNMI Medicaid is already in the process of \u201cseverely curtailing services, limiting choice of providers in the program, and are making decisions knowing full well the adverse short and long-term effects consequences\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is very hard to explain to those that come to our office asking whether the health services that they are receiving will be cut. It is very hard to listen to their stories,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u2018Scaled back services\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n In her own testimony, Mu\u00f1a explained that, without the continued support of the Medicaid program, the lone hospital in the CNMI would not have the means to continue its \u201cpositive trajectory,\u201d forcing it to consider even scaling back its services.<\/p>\n She cited several accomplishments at the hospital, thanks to continued Medicaid funding.<\/p>\n \u201cWe took full advantage of the opportunity presented to us [by the Affordable Care Act] to stabilize our health care system. …A return to the low statutory cap on federal contributions and the low fixed federal share endangers the very existence of our health care system, threatens to further erode our economy, and puts at risk the health and well-being of our people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Mu\u00f1a said she is eager to demonstrate the potential of CHC when provided with regular reimbursements from a stable Medicaid program and asked Congress to eliminate the caps on federal assistance to CNMI Medicaid.<\/p>\n Currently, the CHCC could get through until September 2019 only through the passage of H.R. 2157 after it passed the U.S. Senate. <\/p>\n H.R. 2157 provides an additional $36 million to the CNMI Medicaid program for fiscal year 2019. <\/p>\n \u201cThis will help the CNMI get through September this year, but after that we will still need further congressional action or adequate local appropriation to enable the Medicaid program to make reimbursements to medical providers,\u201d Mu\u00f1a said.<\/p>\n The CNMI Medicaid Program announced in early May that it has exhausted its federal and local funding and would only reimburse outpatient primary care provided only at CHCC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" CNMI healthcare officials pleaded with lawmakers for help in the Medicaid cliff facing the islands…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-300440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headlines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300440\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}