Medicare cuts?

The U.S. House of Representatives is thinking of and proposing a bill called the CHAMP
Act which is a bill that makes deep, damaging Medicare cuts to seniors' care. The House supporters of this bill, the Children's Health and Medicare Protection Act of 2007 claim it will help 'America's Greatest Generation' of seniors. In fact, data from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reveals that the CHAMP Act would sharply cut the Medicare funding that America's oldest, sickest seniors depend upon by $2.7 billion over five years.

If the CHAMP Act were to become a law it would create a real bad situation. Texas would suffer the 4th largest cut in the nation in conjunction with having the 4th lowest Medicaid reimbursement rate in the nation. Another thing this bill would cause is that it would have severe negative repercussions on every one of our state's nearly 90,000 nursing home residents, and every one of the more than 100.000 caring employees who work long, demanding hours in more than 1100 Texas skilled nursing facilities to care for those least able to care for themselves. Cutting down on Medicare would greatly affect the elderly because they are already old and can’t work anymore, so how can they pay for insurance? Now more than ever we need the help of our Texas Congressional Delegation, many of whom sit on the powerful U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means Committees to help kick this proposed Medicare cuts out. These cuts threaten to reduce care for Texas' most vulnerable population of frail, elderly nursing home residents by $168 million over five years – the 4th largest cut on a national basis. We must not let this stand. Since Members of Congress are now back home listening to their constituents, it is essential for all of us who care about the future for our grandparents, our parents and even ourselves to ensure that congressional delegation understands why these ill-advised, short-sighted Medicare cuts should be dumped.

For more details concerning this proposed bill, visit

Statesman.com