June 11, 1999
52 House Members Send GME, DSH Letter to President
Rep. Ken Bentsen (D-Texas) and 51 other Members of Congress sent a letter May 28 to President Clinton on graduate medical education (GME) and disproportionate share hospitals (DSH). As the president is due to release his Medicare reform proposal within the next two weeks, the letter urged the president to maintain current Medicare policy for GME and DSH.
The letter states, "We believe that any Medicare reform proposal must maintain the mandatory funding component for GME and DSH programs. Absent any new mandatory structure, there is a very real concern that our nation's teaching hospitals would be financially devastated."
"In order to remain the world leader in graduate medical education, we must continue to maintain Medicare's strong commitment to the nation's teaching hospitals. We oppose efforts to subject GME and DSH programs to an annual appropriations process which would force them to compete against other important federal priorities," the letter continues.
In addition to Rep. Bentsen, the letter was signed by Reps. Allen Boyd (D-Fla.), Mike Doyle (D-Pa.), Bob Weygand (D-R.I.), Joseph Moakley (D-Mass.), Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), John Peterson (R-Pa.), Jay Inslee (D-Wash.), Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.), Harold Ford (D-Tenn.), James McGovern (D-Mass.), Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-Mich.), Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas); John Olver (D-Mass.), Sam Farr (D-Calif.), Michael Capuano (D-Mass.), Earl Hilliard (D-Ala.), Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.), Jack Metcalf (R-Wash.), Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.), Julia Carson (D-Ind.), Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Michael McNulty (D-N.Y.), David Price (D-N.C.), Donald Payne (D-N.J.), Barney Frank (D-Mass.), Connie Morella (R-Md.), Richard Neal (D-Mass.), Martin Frost (D-Texas), Sam Gejdenson (D-Conn.), Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), James Walsh (R-N.Y.), James Barcia (D-Mich.), Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), Marty Meehan (D-Mass.), Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), Rick Boucher (D-Va.), Karen Thurman (D-Fla.), Eva Clayton (D-N.C.), Jim Maloney (D-Conn.), Melvin Watt (D-N.C.), Nick Lampson (D-Tex.), Bob Etheridge (D-N.C.), Bob Clement (D-Tenn.), Michael Forbes (R-N.Y.), Corrine Brown (D-Fla.), Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.), Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), Rod Blagojevich (D-Ill.), David McIntosh (R-Ind.), Gene Green (D-Texas.)
Information: Lynne L. Davis, AAMC Office of Governmental Relations, 202-828-0526.
