NOCIRC of Michigan
Educating a New Generation

ACTION ALERT:

Get Michigan Out of the Free Circumcision Business!

Help Michigan Become the 17th State to Cut Government-Paid Circumcisions

Write to Michigan Legislators to End Medicaid Funding for Unnecessary Circumcisions

Representative Gary McDowell
Chair, House Subcommittee for the
Department of Community Health
GaryMcDowell@house.mi.gov
phone:  (517) 373-2629  
fax:  (517) 373-8429
PO Box 30014
Lansing, MI  48909-7514

Senator John Pappageorge
Vice-Chair, Senate Sub-Committee on Community Health
contact
phone:  517-373-2523
fax:  517-373-5669
PO Box 30036
Lansing, MI 48909-7536

Representative Shanelle Jackson
Vice-Chair, House Sub-Committee on
Community Health
ShanelleJackson@house.mi.gov
phone:  517-373-1705
fax:  517-373-5968  
PO Box 30014
Lansing, MI 48909-7514

Senator Ron Jelinek
Chair, Senate Appropriations Committee
call toll-free:  (866) 305-2121
SenRJelinek@senate.michigan.gov
phone:  (517) 373-6960
fax:  (517) 373-0897
PO Box 30036
Lansing, MI  48909-7536

Representative George Cushingberry, Jr.
Chair, House Appropriations Committee
GeorgeCushingberry@house.mi.gov
phone: (517) 373-2276 
fax:  (517) 373-7186
PO Box 30014
Lansing, MI  48909-7514

Governor Jennifer M. Granholm
contact
phone:  (517) 373-3400
fax:  (517) 335-6863
PO Box 30013
Lansing, MI  48909

Dear NOCIRC Supporter and Michigan Taxpayer,

Your state is cutting the budget again for health care, education, and cities.  But it is still spending more than $2,900,000 per year paying for 24,000 circumcisions performed at parental request!

Before another dollar is cut, MAKE SURE THAT FREE CIRCUMCISIONS ARE CUT FIRST!

Please ask the chairpersons of the Appropriations Committees and Subcommittees and the Governor to remove all state funding for unnecessary circumcisions from the Department of Community Health's budget and thus easily ELIMINATE SOME WASTE in Michigan's cash-strapped Medicaid system.

Remind them that Medicaid cannot pay for the cultural or religious traditions that parents choose if they have their newborn baby circumcised.  Insist that YOUR TAX DOLLARS be limited to REAL MEDICAL CARE.

Tell them that in this time of budget crisis and unprecedented cuts in Medicaid, Michigan's Medicaid system should STOP using YOUR TAX DOLLARS to pay for medically UNNECESSARY and NON-THERAPEUTIC SURGERY performed at parental request.  Please ask them to eliminate the waste of unnecessary circumcisions from the Medicaid budget.

Tell them that when the axe falls on our vital state programs,
THE AXE HAD BETTER FALL ON CIRCUMCISION TOO!

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

As you know, circumcision is performed for reasons not having to do with real medical care, and the state of Michigan has no business spending money on it.  Period.

Routine, non-therapeutic infant circumcision costs Michigan taxpayers more than $2,900,000.00 per year.  Yet infant circumcision is not recommended by any national medical health organization in the world, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the American Cancer Society.

Routine circumcision does not stand up to objective budget scrutiny because it does not meet Medicaid’s criteria of “medically necessary.”  Medicaid has never covered circumcisions that are performed for religious reasons.

Sixteen states: Arizona, California, Florida, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Utah, and Washington have all dropped Medicaid coverage for all non-therapeutic circumcisions in order to be fiscally responsible.

In this budget crisis, Michigan, too, must be more fiscally responsible.

Urge your legislators to eliminate Medicaid funding for this unnecessary expenditure and reallocate your tax dollars to providing real medical care to Michigan’s children.

Over 24,000 NEWBORN BABY BOYS in Michigan would be saved each year from the WASTE, FRAUD, ABUSE, and HARM of infant circumcisions by eliminating Medicaid payments for this needless surgery.

So PLEASE ASK SENATOR JELINEK, SENATOR KAHN, REPRESENTATIVE CUSHINGBERRY, and REPRESENTATIVE McDOWELL TO CUT MEDICAID COVERAGE for unnecessary, non-therapeutic infant circumcisions. 

You can also contact your own legislators by clicking on these links:

Find Your State Representative
and
Find Your State Senator

Tell them all that Michigan's Medicaid system SHOULD NOT CONTINUE PAYING FOR THIS UNNECESSARY SURGERY.  Remember, if we can succeed in removing this coverage, WE WILL STOP 24,000 CIRCUMCISIONS A YEAR!

If you do nothing else this year to advocate against circumcision, please write to the Governor and to the chairs of the state’s appropriations committees and sub-committees.  They need to hear from YOU if you want to get the state out of the free circumcision business!

On behalf of all the children, thanks!

Norm Cohen
Director