Coalition Letter to the US Congress Calls for House and Senate to Work Together in Passing Health Care Reform; Addresses Medicaid DSH Funding, FMAP and Documented Immigrants

Doctors Council SEIU is part of a coalition of unions, consumers, community and advocacy organizations that is working together to ensure that national health reform legislation is passed, and that it meets the needs of residents and workers.  Our coalition represents and encompasses people who are uninsured, who are unable to access health care services, and who work in the health care system and are frustrated with their inability to provide quality health care services to everyone.  We have watched, and tried to stop, the erosion of the health care safety net as a critical component of access to care for many communities.  We are also united in our belief that health insurance coverage must be extended to greater numbers of residents.

We have written to request that our Congressional representatives act now on national health reform legislation.  The coalition letter addressed such topics as Medicaid DSH funding.  Medicaid disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payments provide financial assistance to hospitals that serve a large number of low-income patients, such as people with Medicaid and the uninsured.   The DSH funding is critical to ensure that the uninsured, and communities that are medically underserved, continue to have access to health care services.  Also addressed was FMAP – federal Medicaid matching dollars – and we stated that these be equitably available for all states to provide Medicaid coverage for an expanded population.  The Federal Medical Assistance Percentages (FMAPs) are used in determining the amount of Federal matching funds for State expenditures for assistance payments for certain social services, and State medical and medical insurance expenditures.  In addition, the letter stressed that the ban that keeps documented immigrants from coverage must be eliminated. 

Read our Coalition Letter to the U.S. Congress and see Members of the Coalition