Haiti Bill Hotline
Sens. Baucus and Grassley have placed legislation on the hotline that would provide a temporary increase in the spending cap for the Repatriation program, which reimburses States who provide assistance to American citizens returning to the US due to war or similar crises. The current law caps payments at $1 million annually; the bill would increase that cap to $25 million for fiscal year 2010 only, due to an influx of several thousand American citizens who have returned to the US from Haiti since that country’s earthquake. A similar, temporary increase in the Repatriation program spending cap (P.L. 109-250) was passed in 2006 in response to political unrest in Lebanon.
Additionally, the bill would provide an additional $60 million in funding for the Qualifying Individual (QI) program, which allows States to fund the Medicare Part B premiums of near-poor seniors not eligible for Medicaid. Several States have reported potential shortfalls in their QI programs this year, and the additional funding is intended to resolve those potential deficits. (The legislation does NOT extend the QI program, which is scheduled to expire at the end of this calendar year.) Both the Haiti funding and the additional QI funds would be financed through transfers from the Medicaid Improvement Fund.
The Senate is expected to consider the legislation by UC later today, and the House is expected to follow suit later in the week. If you have any questions, please let us know.