Jeff Bingaman United States Senator from New Mexico

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman today voiced support for the details of President Obama’s budget as it relates to health care. He also said some of the White House’s plans for education are positive, other areas are lacking.

With regard to health care, the president’s budget proposal would set aside $635 billion over the next 10 years to develop a comprehensive healthcare proposal that would assure Americans access to both meaningful and affordable healthcare. It also describes important improvements and modernizations to the healthcare system including federal healthcare programs such a Medicaid and Medicare. 

“The president’s budget makes access to safe, affordable health care a top priority for the nation. It serves as the basis for the Senate’s work to craft health care reform that will benefit all Americans,” Bingaman said.

Bingaman said he was pleased that the president’s budget lends support to several initiatives he has been working on – including one that improves Medicare quality and efficiency and reduces Medicare costs to beneficiaries and the government by paying for a group of healthcare services provided in a set period of time instead of paying for services on a case-by-case basis. 

The proposal also supports a long-time Bingaman plan that would reduce Medicaid costs by allowing states to collect rebates on prescription medications. It also includes $330 million to improve the healthcare workforce in rural and other underserved communities, a long-standing priority for Bingaman. Additionally, it contains $2.7 billion for Medicaid grants to help protect health care coverage for families with dependent children as well as aged, blind, or disabled individuals.

The budget also seeks to cut prices on medicines, help New Mexico residents buy more affordable medicines from other countries, streamlines the approval of generic medicines, and strengthens efforts to make food and medical products safer.

Bingaman said he was pleased the budget contains $5 billion for Indian Health Services, which has been severely underfunded in the past. At Senator Bingaman’s urging, this includes $779 million for contract health service, to provide care for Native Americans receiving care in non-Indian healthcare facilities. This represents an increase of approximately $200 million from the fiscal year 2009 budget request;

The president’s budget also includes the following for national health care initiatives:

• $511 million for food safety;
• $1 billion to improve the country’s health care workforce, including an increase of $30 million for national health service corps to improve the number of doctors practicing in underserved areas;
• $3 billion to enhance HIV prevention and care programs;
• Invests an additional $73 million to improve the quality of healthcare being provided in rural communities;
• Restores eligibility for VA healthcare to non-disable veterans earning modest incomes;
• Accelerates the adoption of health information technology to bring the American healthcare system into the 21st century and improve the quality and efficiency of care;
• Identifies as a major goal and provides resources to reduce health disparities among ethnic and racial minorities.

In the area of education, Bingaman applauded the president for sharing his concern about the challenges facing our nation’s middle and high schools. The budget requests a nearly $4 billion dollar increase (from $606 million in FY09 to $4.546 billion in FY10) for School Improvement activities under Title I of the No Child Left Behind Act; 40 percent of these funds must be spent to improve struggling middle and high schools. 

The president also requests a $300 million increase for the Striving Readers program, which supports reading interventions for middle or high school students reading significantly below grade level. The budget requests $50 million dollars to support grants to implement proven strategies to reduce dropout rates; this is a small but important down payment on a federal response to the dropout crisis that limits our nation’s competitiveness. 

Bingaman is concerned, however, about President Obama’s proposed elimination of the Even Start family literacy program. The president has shown that he is committed to early childhood education, as demonstrated in the recent economic recovery package and in other elements of his FY10 budget. But the budget’s proposed elimination of Even Start would deny vital services to New Mexicans who have benefited from the program’s unique focus on family members as key participants in early childhood literacy activities. 

Bingaman is also concerned that the President has proposed deep cuts to educational technology programs. While the recent economic recovery package provided significant funding for educational technology, that was one-time funding intended to stimulate the economy. The proposed FY10 cuts would present challenges to New Mexico’s effort to develop schools that prepare our children for the 21^st century economy.        

“Overall, the president’s plan does a good job supporting education,” Bingaman said. “But there are areas where the budget can be improved, and it’s my hope that Congress does just that as we prepare the education spending bill in the coming months.”