Government Relations Action Alert

Contact Your Governor Immediately to Oppose Medicaid Block Grant

June 2, 2003

THE ISSUE AT HAND

The National Governors Association (NGA) is on the brink of endorsing a proposal that would essentially transform the Medicaid program into a block grant. Conservatives on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, chomping at the bit to block grant Medicaid, have indicated that an NGA endorsement is crucial to moving such legislation through Congress. The stakes couldn't be higher. And the time couldn't be shorter. NASW is working with a national coalition doing everything we can to stop this in its tracks!

THE PROPOSAL: From what we hear (this keeps changing, literally from minute to minute) the proposal the NGA is considering calls for radical changes that would destroy the Medicaid program. (This proposal has many of the same harmful features as the President's earlier proposal to block grant Medicaid. For details on the President's proposal, click here <http://www.familiesusa.org/site/R?i=J4dFk3WMcoYDRYvcWDDmjg..>.) Basically, federal spending on Medicaid will be capped regardless of states' (or people's) needs.

Note to NASW members: Although the designers of this proposal will tell you it's not really a block grant but is really just "capped funding" or "an allotment," don't be fooled. It's a block grant. In addition, it appears that states will be given broad flexibility to cut Medicaid eligibility, benefits, and provider reimbursements and to eliminate services in rural areas.

TIMING: It's our understanding that the NGA Medicaid task force, which is made up of five Republican governors and five Democratic governors, could finalize a proposal as early as Monday, June 2 or Tuesday, June 3. If approved by the task force, the proposal then would then go to the NGA Executive Committee, then to the full NGA. Adoption by the full NGA requires the support of two-thirds of all governors. Our sources tell us that the NGA hopes to make this policy final by June 10.

ACTION NEEDED

Call your governor RIGHT AWAY! Tell him or her to reject any NGA proposal that caps Medicaid spending -- all of it or any part of it.