federal Medicaid matching funds

The Implications of Eliminating the ACA Medicaid Expansion Matching Rate

When the Affordable Care Act was adopted in 2010 it offered a powerful incentive for states to expand their Medicaid program:  the federal government would pick up 90 percent of the cost of covering each state’s expansion population. Over the years, 40 of the 50 states have taken advantage of these terms to expand their Medicaid programs, resulting in a significant increase in both Medicaid enrollment and how much the federal government spends on Medicaid. Now, policymakers are considering ending that incentive, leaving the 40 states with a difficult choice:  to pick up the additional cost themselves or reverse their [...]

2025-02-13T17:13:28-05:00February 18, 2025|Affordable Care Act, Congress, Medicaid|

Hospitals Chart 2025 Public Policy Objectives

The hospital industry has an ambitious public policy agenda for 2025 – most of it involving defending the status quo against proposed changes. Hospitals’ advocacy in 2025 will focus on: Fighting off Medicaid cuts, work requirements, reductions in the federal Medicaid matching rate, eliminating scheduled cuts in Medicaid disproportionate share (Medicaid DSH) allotments to the states, and protecting state-directed Medicaid payments and the ability of states to raise Medicaid funding through provider taxes. Preventing a transition to site-neutral payments for Medicare-covered outpatient services. Ensuring the continuation of current section 340B prescription drug discount program practices. Preserving and even extending current [...]

CBO Looks For Cost-Cutting Opportunities

The Congressional Budget Office periodically issues a compendium of policy options for changing federal tax and spending policies in particular areas and reducing federal spending.  For each option the CBO presents an estimate of its effect on the budget without making recommendations either in favor of or against those options.  The latest update of options includes a number with potential implications for health care providers, including: changing the cost-sharing rules for Medicare and restricting medigap insurance reducing Medicare Advantage benchmarks reducing Medicare’s coverage of bad debt consolidating and reducing federal payments for graduate medical education at teaching hospitals establishing caps [...]

Before Recess, Congress Contemplates Medicaid

Before the current session of Congress comes to a close, lawmakers may consider a number of Medicaid issues. Among them: The future of Medicaid eligibility for those who enrolled in the program as a result of special provisions introduced in response to COVID-19. The process for reviewing the future eligibility of those currently enrolled in Medicaid. A movement to extend the current, temporary 12 months of postpartum Medicaid eligibility for new mothers and their newborns beyond the end of the current public health emergency. A gradual phasing out of the enhanced federal Medicaid matching funds states currently receive. Learn more [...]

2022-12-07T06:00:25-05:00December 7, 2022|Congress, Medicaid|

Azar: Budget Proposes Reducing Medicaid Matching $

The federal government would reduce its financial commitment to state Medicaid programs under the FY 2021 budget the Trump administration proposed earlier this month. While testifying before the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar acknowledged that the administration’s proposed FY 2021 would eliminate the enhanced rate at which the federal government matches state funds used to serve individuals who enrolled in Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion provision.  That enhanced rate calls for the federal government to pay 100 percent of the costs associated with [...]

2020-02-28T09:33:40-05:00February 28, 2020|Affordable Care Act, Medicaid|
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