MAKE PHONE CALLS
(best), or SEND OUT EMAILS, FAXES, or LETTERS ASAP TO:
Senator
Ron Jelinek
Chair, Senate Appropriations Committee
call toll-free: (866) 305-2121
SenRJelinek@senate.michigan.gov
fax: (517)
373-0897
PO Box 30036
Lansing, MI 48909-7536
Representative George Cushingberry, Jr.
Chair,
House Appropriations Committee
call toll-free: (888) 347-8008
GeorgeCushingberry@house.mi.gov
fax: (517) 373-7186
PO Box 30014
Lansing, MI 48909-7514
Senator Roger Kahn
Chair, Senate Subcommittee for the
Department of Community Health
call toll-free: (866) 305-2132
SenRKahn@senate.michigan.gov
fax: (517) 373-3487
PO Box 30036
Lansing, MI 48909-7536
Representative Gary McDowell
Chair,
House Subcommittee
for
the
Department of Community Health
call toll-free: (888) 737-4279
GaryMcDowell@house.mi.gov
fax: (517) 373-8429
PO Box 30014
Lansing, MI 48909-7514
Governor Jennifer M. Granholm
call: (517) 373-3400
contact
fax: (517) 335-6863
PO Box
30013
Lansing, MI 48909
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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 $2,596,237 per year
paying for 21,786 circumcisions performed at parental request!
Before another dollar is cut, MAKE SURE THAT FREE CIRCUMCISIONS ARE CUT
FIRST!
Please ask the Governor and the chairpersons of the Appropriations Committees and
Subcommittees 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 $2,596,237.00 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 21,000 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 21,000 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
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