Friday, May 28, 2021 - 2:52 p.m.
By José A. Delgado https://www.elnuevodia.com/corresponsalias/washington-dc/notas/joe-biden-propone-al-congreso-que-puerto-rico-tenga-pleno-acceso-a-medicaid-a-la-ssi-y-asistencia-alimentaria/
Washington, D.C.- The President Joe Biden today formally proposed to Congress to give Puerto Rico parity in Medicaid, and to put the island on the path to equal access in the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and food assistance programs. Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and food assistance programs.
In its FY 2022 budget proposal, the White House included language in favor of eliminating the caps faced by Puerto Rico and the other territories on access to the territories and aligning with the states the matching of funds that their governments have to make.
For Puerto Rico, Biden's proposed language would represent a historic initiative, with an increase of billions of dollars annually in access to federal funds.
President Biden has left the final calculation of these allocations to Congress.
"President Joe Biden kept his word... I have no doubt that the U.S. Congress will do the same and the discrimination we have suffered in the past under the most important health program for American citizens will end," said Governor Pedro Pierluisi, who has criticized the Fiscal Oversight Board (JSF) that controls the financial decisions of the island's elected government for projecting that Puerto Rico would only have $400 million to fund the Vital health plan.
Puerto Rico would receive a temporary allocation of nearly $2.8 billion this federal fiscal year under the Medicaid program, which largely funds the island government's Vital health plan. If new legislation fails to pass, however, Puerto Rico's health care system would fall off a fiscal cliff, receiving only the $400 million guaranteed by the permanent law.
The governor Pedro Pierluisi has calculated that lifting the cap of nearly $400 million that the island receives by permanent law and giving Puerto Rico the treatment that the states receive could represent some $4.1 billion annually.
This week, Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden, chairman of the Finance Committee, maintained that they are still analyzing what legislation will be used to advance the new Medicaid funds. "We are evaluating that," Wyden told El Nuevo Día on Wednesday.
While proposing parity in food assistance, the bill currently allocates $2.07 billion for federal fiscal year 2022, essentially about $32 million more than the estimate that will be allocated as a base this year under the Nutrition Assistance Program (NAP).
President Biden's plan included a commitment to bring Puerto Rico on track for parity in Medicaid and food assistance.
But, in addition, Biden said during the campaign that he would resolve the lack of access to SSI for Puerto Rico residents, an issue that, however, his administration is fighting before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Experts estimate the impact of nearly 300,000 island residents having access to SSI, which exists in the states, Washington D.C. and the Northern Mariana Islands, and provides benefits to low-income people who are 65 years of age or older, blind or disabled, at nearly $2.3 billion annually.