HCS SJR 6(FIN) am H: Relating to a reduction in the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage for Alaskans, and urging the United States Congress to take action to prevent the reduction.
00 HOUSE CS FOR SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 6(FIN) am H 01 Relating to a reduction in the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage for Alaskans, and 02 urging the United States Congress to take action to prevent the reduction. 03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 WHEREAS, under each state's Medicaid program, the federal government pays a 05 share of medical assistance expenditures, known as the Federal Medical Assistance 06 Percentage; and 07 WHEREAS the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in the United States 08 Department of Health and Human Services have recently announced that the Alaska Federal 09 Medical Assistance Percentage will be reduced by 7.58 percent in the coming years, changing 10 the existing rate of 57.58 percent federal and 42.42 percent state to a rate of 50 percent federal 11 and 50 percent state; and 12 WHEREAS the reduction in the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage will result in 13 a $53,000,000 loss to Alaskans in fiscal year 2006 and a $73,000,000 loss to Alaskans in 14 fiscal year 2007; and 15 WHEREAS the high level of health care costs in Alaska reflects the overall high cost 16 of living in Alaska; and
01 WHEREAS the overall high cost of living in Alaska is greatly driven by geographic 02 and demographic factors including that 03 (1) 650,000 people live in Alaska, a state the size of Texas, California, and 04 Montana combined, that extends over 3,000 miles from the Aleutian Islands to Canada; 05 (2) most of Alaska is without roads and transportation is largely accomplished 06 by boat, airplane, and snowmobile; 07 (3) much of the health care provided in Alaska is located outside of local 08 villages and residential areas, necessitating air transportation to larger metropolitan areas such 09 as Anchorage, Alaska, and Seattle, Washington, that are hundreds or thousands of miles 10 away; 11 (4) gasoline prices in much of rural Alaska can be close to $6 a gallon; heating 12 fuel, at a comparably high cost, must be used year-round; and electricity must be locally 13 generated due to the distances between rural electrical grids relying on expensive fossil fuels; 14 (5) much of Alaska food and all manufactured goods must be shipped in from 15 the lower 48 states by barge during the brief summer months and flown in by air during the 16 rest of the year at a high cost; 17 (6) recruitment and retention of qualified health care providers is made 18 difficult by the remoteness of the areas served and the necessity of working long hours 19 without relief, requiring higher salaries; 20 (7) the population of Alaska is scattered across vast distances, rendering the 21 establishment and maintenance of infrastructure support for medical testing and surgical 22 procedures impossible and necessitating air transportation of patients and lab specimens 23 outside of Alaska at great expense; and 24 (8) the prevalence of chronic disease, such as diabetes, is increasing faster in 25 Alaska than in other states, cancer is the leading cause of death in Alaska, tuberculosis is still 26 a public health problem in the state, and each translates into higher health care costs in 27 Alaska; and 28 WHEREAS, while the federal government recognizes the high cost of living in 29 Alaska by adding a 25 percent cost-of-living allowance to federal employees working in 30 Alaska, the federal government does not recognize the high cost of living in Alaska in other 31 federal payments or programs; and
01 WHEREAS the Kaiser Family Foundation's State Health Facts report shows Alaska 02 to have the highest hospital inpatient cost per day and to be in the top ranks of pharmaceutical 03 costs; and 04 WHEREAS the reduction of the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage threatens the 05 availability of continued health care services for seniors, disabled people, and other needy and 06 vulnerable populations in Alaska; and 07 WHEREAS the reduction of the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage threatens the 08 stability and sustainability of the health care infrastructure in Alaska, including hospitals and 09 other primary care facilities, as well as the provision of rural health care in Native health care 10 facilities and community health clinics across the state; 11 BE IT RESOLVED by the Alaska State Legislature that the United States Congress 12 and the federal administration must understand the significant effect on the people of the state 13 by the reduction of the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage in Alaska; and be it 14 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges federal action to 15 correct the formula that allows for the reduction of the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage 16 in Alaska, to maintain the existing rate for Alaska of 57.58 percent federal and 42.42 percent 17 state, and to take whatever additional actions are necessary to hold Alaska harmless from the 18 proposed reduction in the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage in the state. 19 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable George W. Bush, President 20 of the United States; the Honorable Richard B. Cheney, Vice-President of the United States 21 and President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Michael O. Leavitt, United States Secretary 22 of Health and Human Services; the Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Lisa 23 Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of 24 the Alaska delegation in Congress; and to all other members of the 109th United States 25 Congress.