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Torres praises bill’s passage to boost Medicaid funding for NMI to $120M
Gov. Ralph DLG. Torres joined the other U.S. territorial governors Wednesday in thanking the U.S. House of Representatives for passing a bipartisan bill that would increase Medicaid funding to the CNMI to $120 million until 2021.
The bill also increases the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage for the CNMI to 83%, creating a more favorable federal cost share that addresses our healthcare challenges as an island territory.
“This is welcoming news for many of our residents and our health care providers. Our Medicaid residents will continue to receive the care they need, while ensuring that our entire community of health care providers can provide services for them again instead of just through [the Commonwealth Health Center] due to our Medicaid shortfall,” said Torres.
“The territorial governors and I wrote letters and spoke to members of Congress and other stakeholders to ensure that the territories are included [in the] Medicaid spending bill, and we are very thankful our efforts paid off,” he added.
In April 2019, Torres initiated formal talks with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Medicaid issues facing the territories. In May 2019, he supported the Commonwealth Health Care Corp. and the CNMI Medicaid Office’s testimonies in front of Congress to advocate for Medicaid parity in the territories. Since he took office, Torres has initiated several discussions with federal partners on lifting the Medicaid cap, increasing the FMAP percentage, and increasing funding for Medicaid in the CNMI and in the territories.
“This was important work that we have prioritized for a long time, and I thank our partners in the U.S. Congress, my fellow territorial governors, CHCC CEO Esther Muna and her staff, and Ms. Helen Sablan and our CNMI Medicaid Office staff for their partnership. I look forward to working with CHCC and our private healthcare providers on expanding Medicaid services once again with the new funding,” said Torres. (PR)
