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Recently, Senate Committees moved forward with
budget savings packages, and I have heard some
concern from my constituents about potential benefit
cuts to necessary programs such as Medicare and
Medicaid. The Finance Committee, of which I am a
member, oversees these two programs, and I am proud
to say that we have found a way to achieve savings
by reducing wasteful spending, not reducing benefits
to persons enrolled in either program. This package
even contains new spending that benefits Maine,
including children’s health services, community
health centers, and Maine’s two private psychiatric
hospitals. Ultimately, this package ensures that the
most poor and disadvantaged among us do not bear the
brunt of needed savings. This year’s budget called
for the Senate Finance Committee to identify $10
billion in savings in programs it oversees, such as
Medicare and Medicaid. I worked tirelessly with the
Chair of the Committee, Senator Chuck Grassley
(R-IA) in order to ensure that Medicaid and Medicare
savings do not impact beneficiaries, and during
negotiations I repeatedly insisted that I would not
support any plan that saves money by targeting those
in need.
I understand full well how essential Medicaid is
to some of our most vulnerable populations. It is a
vital health care safety net, providing
indispensable services to those who could not
otherwise obtain health care as well as providing
coverage critical to the uninsured. Medicaid
provides health and long term care services to 53
million low-income pregnant women, children,
individuals with disabilities and seniors – 300,000
of them in Maine. It provides coverage to the
uninsured, which now number more than 45 million
Americans, as well as 35 million seniors and 6
million Americans with disabilities. Keeping that in
mind, I fought to ensure that these benefits would
not be affected.
The package ultimately adopted by the Finance
Committee meets the goal of finding $10 billion
total in savings over five years by taking $4.3
billion in savings from Medicaid and $5.8 billion in
savings from Medicare. Once again, I must stress
that this package does not affect the benefits of
either Medicare or Medicaid beneficiaries.
The Finance Committee’s package includes
increases in spending to programs critical to Maine,
including covering shortfalls in the State
Children’s Health Insurance Program (“SCHIP”), $170
million additional support for rural hospital
outpatient programs, and a 1 percent increase in
Medicare reimbursements to doctors, nurses, and
other medical professionals, which is key to
maintaining access to full medical care in rural
areas.
The bill also included two amendments that I
personally authored. The first provides $30
million in Medicaid reimbursements to hospitals
treating adult psychiatric patients, which will
directly benefit Spring Harbor Hospital in Portland
(affiliated with Maine Medical Center) and Acadia
Hospital in Bangor, the two private psychiatric
hospitals in Maine. The second amendment
provides $40 million in Medicare reimbursements to
community health centers for preventive treatments
that they render. There are more than 30
community health centers across Maine.
I am particularly pleased that this package
addresses my concerns that home health care not be
impacted. We have also helped preserve access to
primary and preventative care services for Medicare
beneficiaries through improved payments to community
health centers. I have long stressed that it is
vital to ensure that we do not undermine our
essential health care programs in the name of
savings.
In my view, the package passed by the Senate
Finance Committee strikes the proper balance not
only in numbers, but most importantly in policy – I
firmly believe that we must not create savings by
limiting benefits that aid the least advantaged
Americans. The savings in this agreement are derived
not from reducing benefits, but rather from making
needed reforms and eliminating unneeded spending,
while at the same time including spending that
strengthens Medicare and Medicaid. Once again,
we have pursued common sense budget strategies that
protect the vulnerable.
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