Medicaid per capita spending limits

HHS Talking to States About Medicaid Block Grants

In the absence of legislation to turn Medicaid into a block grant program, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is talking to some states about granting waivers that permit them – voluntarily – to turn their individual Medicaid programs into block grants. HHS Secretary Alex Azar acknowledged this last week during a hearing of the Senate Finance Committee. He did not disclose which states, or how many, with which HHS has had such discussions and he also noted that his staff is talking to state officials about waivers to permit them to adopt Medicaid per capita spending limits. [...]

Sneak Preview of Medicaid Spending Limits?

The imposition of spending limits for individual Medicaid recipients has been discussed in Washington policy circles for years and was offered in the White House’s recent FY 2020 budget proposal. While deliberations on such a proposal have never advanced in a meaningful way, the state of Utah is doing more than talking about such an approach: it has petitioned the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for a Medicaid waiver that would enable it to introduce such a system in its state Medicaid program. Under the state’s proposed Medicaid waiver, Utah asks the federal government to limit its own Medicaid [...]