And the award goes toRep. Dennis Cardoza (D-Merced), at least according to the California Hospital Association (CHA). They are giving their annual Health Care Champion award to the Congressman from California for doing "a particularly heroic job in health care" by ensuring that $3 billion in Medicare reimbursement money that was earmarked for hospitals in other states, stayed in California.
"What Rep. Cardoza recognized is that California was going to be hurt because funding was going to be broken down in such a way as to favor smaller-population states," noted Alan Weinstock, insurance broker at www.MedicareSupplementPlans.com.
What Rep. Cardoza Did for California Medicare Funding
According to Rep. Cardoza, he saw first-hand how other states were able to afford clean health care facilities with no overcrowding while here in California there is a shortage of caregivers and low reimbursement rates. Because he felt the regional allocation of Medicare funding had been unfair, he knew he needed to step in and fight for a change.
One of the variables that federal lawmakers use to help allocate Medicare funding is called geographic variation. It looks at more populous and affluent states such as California, New York and Texas where there is a higher cost of living, higher utility costs, wages, land values -- overall, a higher cost of doing business. This is what Rep. Cardoza battled to establish in Washington.
The California Hospital Association Health Care Champion Award
The award, given to Rep. Cardoza on August 24, 2010 recognized him for his leadership and dedicated commitment to patient care during the health care reform debate in Congress earlier this year and honored him for his ongoing effort to improve access to health care services for patients in underserved and rural areas.
In accepting the CHA award, Rep. Cardoza noted that providing access to quality health care had been a significant challenge in the district for many years. It was among the key reasons he initially ran for Congress in 2003.
In his acceptance speech Rep. Cardoza stated that the opportunity to advocate the needs of his community as the health care reform legislation was developed was a high point of his career in public service. He continued by saying that he was grateful and humbled that he had such an opportunity. And that he was equally grateful and humbled by this award and all that it represents.
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