Amata Highlights Important Congressional Hearing On Medicaid For U.S. Territories And The LBJ Hospital Study

Press Release

Congresswoman Aumua Amata attended a hearing of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce's Subcommittee on Health, examining ways to strengthen health care in the U.S. Territories.

This follows a similar hearing in the House Committee on Natural Resources committee held on May 23 in which all 5 Medicaid directors from each of the territories testified, including American Samoa Medicaid Director Sandra King-Young.

"This 2nd hearing on the Medicaid cliff the territories are facing shows the Congress is taking very seriously the projected shortfall of Medicaid funds for the territories later in the year," said Amata. "Additionally, it shows that the five territories working together at both the congressional and governor level on a bipartisan basis can make a difference in moving forward and shaping important legislation such as more equitable Medicaid funding for the territories" Amata continued.

In her statement, Amata announced the completion of a long-awaited LBJ hospital study. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers who conducted the study, found LBJ to be in a state of failure due to age. A copy of the report has been sent to Governor Lolo's office for review.

Amata thanks Chairman Pallone, Chairwoman Eshoo, Ranking Member Walden, and Ranking Member Burgess for putting together this hearing and Governor Lolo, Acting Governor Lemanu and Medicaid Director Sandra King-Young for all the effort involved in preparing and participating in these hearings.

"I will continue to work with the Acting Governor and his team along with my fellow Members of Congress to keep pushing forward legislation to address both our Medicaid funding and LBJ Hospital needs in the coming months".

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