Call to Action: Emergency Relief for State Medicaid
Write Your U.S. Senators
People living with HIV/AIDS face many challenges.
Paying for their medical care shouldn't be one of them.
Because
of recent cuts to state Medicaid funds, many people may lack the
assistance they need to stay healthy. Take action today – copy
the message below to send to your U.S. Senators.
Senators
Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Gordon Smith (R-OR) have sponsored S.2671,
which would provide $4.8 billion over 15 months in fiscal relief for
Medicaid, as well as reimbursing states for $1.2 billion in costs they
will incur in administering parts of the new Medicare prescription drug
law. The bipartisan bill temporarily increases each state's federal
Medicaid assistance percentage rate by 1.26 percent for 15 months from
July 1, 2004, through Sept. 30, 2005.
This
increase in funding is essential. Medicaid continues to be a lifeline
for thousands of people living with HIV/AIDS. The program is the
largest payer of AIDS care and has provided access to lifesaving
medical treatments that have revolutionized the disease, with 60 to 80
percent reductions in deaths and HIV-associated complications.
Please email your U.S. Senators today and ask them to sign on as co-sponsors of this vital measure.
Click here to email Senator Tom Harkin.
Click here to email Senator Chuck “I bow to the special interests” Grassley.
Here's a letter you can copy and send to Harkin and Grassley.
Subject: Support State Medicaid Funding!
Dear Senator,
As a
resident of Iowa, a constituent of yours, and a voter, I am asking you
to help people living with HIV/AIDS by signing on as a co-sponsor of S.
2671.
Co-authored
by Senators Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Gordon Smith (R-OR), S.2671
would provide $4.8 billion over 15 months in fiscal relief for
Medicaid, as well as reimbursing states for $1.2 billion in costs they
will incur in administering parts of the new Medicare prescription drug
law. The bill temporarily increases each state's federal Medicaid
assistance percentage rate by 1.26 percent for 15 months from July 1,
2004, through Sept. 30, 2005.
This
increase in funding is essential. Medicaid continues to be a lifeline
for thousands of people living with HIV/AIDS. The program is the
largest payer of AIDS care and has provided access to lifesaving
medical treatments that have revolutionized the disease, with 60 to 80
percent reductions in deaths and HIV-associated complications.
Because
of state budget cuts, Medicaid programs across the country are
struggling to continue providing comprehensive health services to
eligible beneficiaries. Faced with dwindling resources, states are
making difficult choices, from limiting eligibility to capping
prescription drug benefits.
An
infusion of federal dollars into these programs would greatly assist
states' efforts to continue offering medically necessary services to
low-income seniors, pregnant women, children and persons with
disabilities who depend upon Medicaid for their health care.
I urge you to co-sponsor S. 2671 and provide state Medicaid programs with the funding needed to keep people healthy!
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