Jenniffer González-Colón’s response to the Fiscal Oversight Board

Washington DC- Jenniffer González-Colón, Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico, issued a letter to the Puerto Rico Fiscal Oversight Board in response to their communication to the Governor of Puerto Rico last January 18, in which she invites them to join in fighting for the funding necessary to sustain Medicaid in the territory, rather than threaten to derail efforts to secure health care funding.

"I call upon all the members of this Board to join us in the effort to ensure funding for the Medicaid program and to carry out their moral duty to their appointing authorities in congress and the White House, to advise them on the urgency of this funding and on the dire consequences of depriving our island of this financing", expressed the Resident Commissioner when presenting the letter.

Resident commissioner González-Colón reminded the Board members in her letter that they were not elected by the people of Puerto Rico and the authority vested in them derives from the colonial powers that the Congress and President hold over the island, therefore they are responsible for acting act to warn Congress of the consequences of not acting to appropriate the necessary health care funds.

Puerto Rico's congresswoman confronted the members of the board with how their request to the Governor of Puerto Rico for one billion dollars in cuts to the health care Budget, would counter all the efforts that have been made to obtain for Puerto Rico equal funding in federal health care programs such as Medicaid.

González-Colón reminded the Board that in her role as Member of Congress she complied with their request, made in a prior letter to former Governor García Padilla, that any fiscal adjustment plan for Puerto Rico should not include a consideration of federal funding "unless accompanied by a specific bill"

"One day after being sworn in to Congress, together with the Admission Act, I filed two bills regarding the health care situation in Puerto Rico", she stated, referring to H.R. 259, which would continue the existing level of funding under Medicaid (about $1.68 billion) which would otherwise expire no later than FY2019 under the current ACA; and H.R. 261 to provide equal treatment to the American citizens in Puerto Rico when subscribing to Medicare Part B. Both proposals had been supported by the bipartisan Task Force for Economic Growth in the last Congress.

"In my own conversations with HHS Secretary nominee Tom Price I have obtained expressions of support for justice for the people of Puerto Rico in any of the alternatives for replacement of ‘Obamacare', after showing how the territory and the patients would be affected by not providing for Puerto Rico's case", González-Colón stated.

During his confirmation hearings for the post at HHS this week, Price indicated that he was committed to finding alternatives to address the health care funding fiscal cliff facing Puerto Rico and the other territories. "Absolutely, we have to look for resources to ensure they obtain the health care they need… They are American citizens and we have to take this responsibility very seriously".

This goes together with the report of the Congressional Task Force on Puerto Rico Economic Growth which recommends that Congress attend early in the year the issue of the Medicaid funding cliff through more equitable and sustainable funding, as well as with the Puerto Rico health Secretary's own efforts in Washington.

The Resident Commissioner closed her letter to the Board reiterating the fact of the unequal treatment given Puerto Rico for being a territory rather than one of the other states. "Medicaid in Puerto Rico simply leaves the population without several of the services that are part of the Medicaid mandate, including such as: home care for nursing patients, non-emergency medical transportation, pediatric nurse practitioner services, nurse midwives, long term nursing care for those over 21, emergency services for immigrants, and independent birthing centers", she points out.

Also in an example of inequality with the states, Medicaid in Puerto Rico fails to provide for several of the optional services in the coverage, including: hospice care, private nursing services, personal care, intermediate attention service for persons with mental disabilities, personalized case management and psychiatric elder care.