Medicaid Reforms top priority for US territorial governors

PAGO PAGO, American Samoa (PIDP/CPIS) — The National Governor’s Association (NGA) has identified Medicaid reforms as a top Bush administration priority, according to American Samoa Governor Tauese Sunia.

The reforms, if successful, would bring equal treatment to all U.S. territories, the Governor said.

Under the auspices of the Territorial Governors Health Care Coalition, Tauese joined forces with the governors of Guam, Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, and the U.S. Virgin Islands to push this issue last August with former President Clinton.

Even the director of the U.S. Department of Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs at the time, Ferdinand Aranza, supported the governors’ effort and wrote to the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders to join forces.

The island leaders noted, “For Americans in the territories, both in the Pacific and the Caribbean, disparities in the health care system are due in large part to the cap on federal funding for the Medicaid program and the inequitable treatment of territories in the Medicaid cost-sharing match.”

The governors request that the cost-sharing match be adjusted from 50-50 to 77-23 (federal-state), which is the level enjoyed by some states.

“Without this adjustment to the match, an increase in the Medicaid cap alone might not improve the health care situation because our local governments’ resources are severely strained and we would have difficulty meeting the matching requirement to access the additional funds,” said the island governors.

Aranza said the economic climates in the islands are extremely precarious and the probability of a quick turnaround unlikely.

“Per capita incomes are already well below the U.S. national average and, proportionately, more territorial residents live in poverty than in the 50 states,” he added.

Tauese said in a press statement that one of the NGA’s major priorities being presented to the Bush administration is Medicaid reforms.

“What is significant to us about this priority is that it not only addresses reform to ensure continued quality care through Medicaid in the 21st century, but specifically it is to include reforms in the Medicaid program as it applies to the U.S. territories in order to bring the legitimate and unique health care need of the people of the U.S. islands in line with the states,” the governor emphasized.