AG 2001 12 17 - Laserfiche WebLink

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December 17, 2001 D AFT The Honorable Robert C. (Robin) Hayes United States House of Representatives 130 Cannon House Office Building Washington, D. C. 20515 Dear Congressman Hayes: The Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners urges your support and advocacy for the pending Medicaid relief proposals currently being considered by Congress. It is our understanding that the Senate economic stimulus package contains three provisions to increase the federal cost share in Medicaid program funding--one to maintain the federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP) rate at federal fiscal year 2001 levels, one to increase all states' FMAP by 1.5 percentage points, and one to increase the FMAP in high unemployment states like North Carolina by 1.5 percentage points. These measures would provide North Carolina an additional $265 million in federal Medicaid participation, with $40 million of these funds offsetting county Medicaid requirements. The House's stimulus package does not contain these critical provisions, although a newly introduced bill--H.R. 3414--would provide for similar measures with even greater relief efforts, providing to the state an additional $400 million, of which $60 million would offset county Medicaid expenditures. As you may be aware, North Carolina is one of the few states that mandate county participation in Medicaid services costs, requiring counties to spend $382 million this year alone, a $65 million increase over last year's estimates. Many counties were forced to raise property taxes to provide for this level of funding--eleven counties' Medicaid requirements now consume over 10% of their total budgets and 10 counties must devote over 20 cents of their property tax rates to Medicaid alone. This leaves very few county resources to enhance our local schools, our public health services, our criminal justice systems, and other essential county programs. The state projects Medicaid cost increases approaching 20% annually for the next several years, creating a fiscal crisis for all of our counties, particularly those in the more rural, more impoverished areas. And, given the state's own budget problems, we cannot expect state funding assistance to help combat these spiraling Medicaid costs. We respectfully ask your support to ensure that the negotiated stimulus packages contain some measure of federal Medicaid relief. Please let us know if you have any questions and we greatly appreciate your support of Cabarrus County as well as county government throughout North Carolina. Sincerely, Arno L. Fennel Chairman, Board of Commissioners cc: Board of Commissioners