Edward Schafer on Health Care Former Democratic ND Governor

Maintain Medicare funding of HMO benefits.

• WHEREAS, Medicare premiums paid to Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO) are set at 95% of the current fee-for-service Medicare spending on residents of the county where the HMO is to be offered; and
• WHEREAS, The lack of readily accessible medical care in some areas results in lower utilization of medical services and lower Medicare spending; and
• WHEREAS, The combination of the Medicare HMO premium formula and differences in medical care service utilization results in fewer medical benefits for many Medicare HMO participants in rural, and other low medical care utilization areas; and
• WHEREAS, Medicaid will likely be used to fill the coverage gap in these areas, requiring additional state money; and
• WHEREAS, Language in the 1997 Balanced Budget Act was designed to address these inequities; now therefore be it,
• RESOLVED, That the Midwestern Governors’ Conference encourages Congress to continue its effort to address these inequities, and to resist efforts to reverse the changes made to Medicare HMO premiums in the Balanced Budget Act of 1997.

Protect state tobacco settlement funds from federal seizure.

As you know, preserving and protecting the state tobacco settlement funds is the nation’s Governors’ highest priority. We strongly urge you to reach final agreement and pass the conference report on the emergency supplemental appropriations bill soon, and to retain the Senate provision that protects our settlement funds from federal seizure.

Many of our state legislatures are currently in session, and some have already completed work on their budgets. Therefore, it is critical that conferees reach agreement quickly on this issue. Governors are unified in their commitment to ensuring that the funds remain in the states and that there be no restrictions on states’ ability to tailor spending to meet the needs of their citizens.

We offer our strongest support for conferees to recede to the Senate version of the bill containing the Hutchison/Graham bipartisan tobacco recoupment protection legislation.