Puerto Rico needs additional federal funding to avoid a looming Medicaid funding crisis, according to The Hill.
Without additional federal funding, up to 900,000 people in the U.S. territory would likely lose their healthcare coverage, according to the report. That's less than half of the island's 3.4 million residents.
Puerto Rico was dealing with Medicaid funding issues prior to Hurricane Maria. But the storm worsened the situation, with experts now estimating federal funding will dry up within months without action from Congress, reports The Hill.
"Unless there's an assurance of stable and sufficient funding … [Puerto Rico's Medicaid program] is headed toward a collapse," Edwin Park, vice president for health policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, told the publication.
Puerto Rico's Medicaid funding problems come amid a federal spending formula that allocates different amounts to states and territories. States, on average, typically have 57 percent of Medicaid costs covered by the federal government, according to the report. However, the report notes, that amount is only about 15 to 20 percent for territories. In exchange, residents in territories don't owe federal income tax.
Puerto Rico received a $6.4 billion Medicaid grant from the government allocated for fiscal years 2011-2019. And earlier this year, U.S. lawmakers appropriated an additional $300 million for the island, according to the report. But The Hill notes Puerto Rico, which currently has a total of $74 billion of debt, was already running out of those funds, and Hurricane Maria only made matters worse.
House Energy and Commerce Committee Republicans have proposed $1 billion over the next two years in additional Medicaid funding for Puerto Rico, according to the report. The additional funding would be included in the bill to fund the Children's Health Insurance Program. However, it is uncertain whether the larger bill will pass.
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