Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) is optimistic that legislation introduced by Vermont Democrat Sen. Bernie Sanders would help improve the healthcare services in the territories like the CNMI. Sanders introduced H.R. 1354 along with seven other co-sponsors last Tuesday with the said legislation looking to put the territories the same at the federal level.<\/p>\n
\u201cSenator Sanders\u2019 bill is something I support for the Northern Marianas. It is, as a matter of fact, a position I have taken for years,\u201d Sablan told Saipan Tribune in an email.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving said that, the legislation alone wouldn\u2019t make us eligible for a state like share of the [Federal Medical Assistance Percentage] or give us full eligibility into a state like Medicaid program.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sablan added, \u201cOur health system needs to provide or improve the standard of care services it provides to the general population, and to Medicaid beneficiaries. And while that may take a few years, yes, it is something I support.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanders, in a statement, said that is not right that a wealthy nation like the U.S. allowed its citizens to suffer. \u201cThe full resources of the United States must be brought to bear on this crisis,\u00a0for as long as is necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe must go forward to ensure a strong health care system in all the territories and address inequities in federal law that have allowed the territories to fall behind in almost every measurable social and economic criteria,\u201d added Sanders, who is one of the 24 Democrats that are hoping to earn their party\u2019s nomination to challenge Trump in 2020.<\/p>\n
Early this month, H.R. 268, or the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2019, passed the Senate with an 85-5 vote and is now headed to President Donald J. Trump for his signature. Rep. Nita M. Lowey (D-NY, 17) introduced the bill, which passed the house with a 354-58 margin.<\/p>\n
Sablan said H.R. 268, which guarantees an additional $129.6 million in disaster relief aid for the CNMI, had $36 million made available for the Marianas Medicaid program while another $25.2 million for food aid.<\/p>\n
\u201cBehind the scenes negotiations produced another $56 million for solid waste facilities and $10.4 million for sewer and water infrastructure. Together with $2 million to help the Commonwealth with managing all this money, that is a total of $129.6 million\u2014just for the [Commonwealth],\u201d added Sablan in a previous statement.<\/p>\n
Guam also earned a 100- percent medical assistance percentage in the $19.1-billion disaster aid bill [H.R. 268] that Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero also welcomed. \u201cOur administration has been seeking Congressional support of our Medicaid funding issues.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have sent letters, testified before Congress, and met with numerous Federal officials and agencies. We will continue to fight for equitable and fair treatment of Guam and the other U.S. Territories on these and all other matters,\u201d said Deleon Guerrero, who is currently in Colorado for the Western Governors\u2019 Association meeting, in a separate statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) is optimistic that legislation introduced by Vermont Democrat Sen….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":301660,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-301655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301655","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\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}