Del. Sablan: $360 Million Okayed for Marianas Medicaid

WASHINGTON, July 15 -- Del. Gregorio Sablan, D-Northern Mariana Islands, issued the following information:

A six-year legislative deal, including $360 million for Marianas Medicaid, won approval by the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee on Thursday.

There is no local match required in the first two years; and in year six the match is set to the most generous for any U.S. state--76 percent federal/ 24 percent local.

The Territories Health Care Act also requires the Commonwealth and other insular governments report annually to Congress, so we know if Medicaid funds are really improving health care for the people we represent. I introduced H.R. 3631 on Tuesday, along with a bipartisan group of nine other Members, after many months of negotiations over what to do when Obamacare funding for insular area Medicaid expires this year. Obamacare provided the Marianas with $163 million over nine years.

The $360 million over six years in H.R. 3631 is a threefold increase. To bring negotiations to a head I held a hearing on the Medicaid issue in May, followed by a similar hearing by the Health Subcommittee in June. Chairman Frank Pallone (D-New Jersey) wants his Energy and Commerce Committee to mark up the bill next week to put it on the House agenda for quick action.