TELL CONGRESS: Protect the Medicaid Safety Net for Children!

Thank you again for all of your hard work in support of the Medicaid cuts moratoria!

We need your help to ensure a victory in Congress.

Despite the overwhelming bipartisan support for H.R. 5613 in the House, the Bush administration and several senators have expressed opposition to the legislation.

H.R. 5613 now is being included in an amendment to the Iraq War Supplemental ("the Supp"). Getting the Supp passed is our best chance to stop these Medicaid cuts from jeopardizing health care coverage for millions of children.

The Supp may be on the floor of the House as early as the week of May 12th, and later in the Senate. We have hit a speed bump in the House as the bill was delayed by fiscally conservative Democrats hoping to have all domestic funding attached to the bill paid for (while the Medicaid moratoria are paid for, other domestic spending projects included in the Supp are not). Even with this delay, Congressional leadership plans to have the bill passed and signed before the Memorial Day recess.

Please contact your senators and representative and ask them to vote in favor of the Iraq War Supplemental.

TAKE ACTION NOW!

Call your senators and representative and tell them:

• Time is running out. The targeted case management regulation went into effect March 3, 2008, and two more of the seven regulations included in H.R. 5613 will be implemented within the next two months. The cost limit to public providers regulation is under a moratorium that expires on May 25, and the school administration and transportation services regulation is under a moratorium that expires on June 30.
• Including H.R. 5613 as an amendment to the Supp is an important step towards guaranteeing continued access to services under the Medicaid program for children.
• 30 million children depend on the Medicaid program. It is critical to their health that Medicaid remain strong.

Call the main Capitol switchboard, ASAP, at 202-224-3121 and ask to be connected to your representative and senators or log on to the AAP Member Center at www.aap.org/moc and click on "Federal Affairs" at the bottom of the page to look up information to contact your representative's office directly. We are asking you to call your representative and senators because letters and emails will have less immediate impact.

If you have any questions contact Bob Hall, AAP Dept. of Federal Affairs, 800-336-5475, ext. 3309, or rhall@aap.org

THANK YOU

Your efforts to date have all led to this point. If each of you as a Key Contact takes action and reaches out to every one of your senators and representatives, we can reach hundreds of members of Congress. This push is what we need to protect the health care coverage America's children need and deserve.