Medicaid
Medicaid provides health coverage for low-income children and adults, medical and long-term care coverage for people with disabilities, and assistance with health and long-term care expenses for low-income seniors. Nearly 59 million people rely on Medicaid services.
Medicaid is jointly funded by the federal government and the states. Each state administers its own program, and the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) monitors the programs and sets quality, funding, and eligibility standards.
This section of our Web site provides resources on Medicaid laws and regulations and keeps you up-to-date on the battle to sustain and improve this important program.
Children receive health coverage through Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). To learn more about CHIP, see the Children’s Health section.
The Latest
On August 10, 2010, the President signed the federal matching rate for Medicaid (FMAP) and Education Jobs bill (H.R. 1586) into law. The temporary increase in the federal matching rate that was provided by the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was scheduled to end on December 31, 2010—right in the middle of most states' 2011 fiscal years. The law provides an additional $16.1 billion in increased Medicaid funding for states until the end of most states' current fiscal years, which end on June 30, 2011. This is good news for states' economies and jobs, and also for Medicaid. Click here to see how Representatatives voted, and if yours voted yes, thank him or her for supporting this legislation.
States are currently receiving a 6.5 percentage point increase in their federal matching rate, plus an additional increase depending on the unemployment rate in the state. Rather than reverting to normal matching rates in January 2011, this extension grants states a 3.2 percentage point increase in the federal matching rate for January-March 2011, and a 1.2 percentage point increase for April-June 2011 (plus additional increases depending on the unemployment rate in the state).
Medicaid and the Economic Recovery Package
From Families USA:
Enrollment Policy Provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act outlines the provisions that apply to Medicaid, CHIP, and the exchanges, and those that encourage coordination of enrollment procedures among the three programs. (August 2010)
Five Good Reasons Why States Shouldn't Cut Home- and Community-Based Services in Medicaid outlines why cutting home- and community-based services in Medicaid is a bad idea for states that are facing budget shortfalls. | Sources (July 2010)
Health Reform: New Opportunities for States to Invest in Home- and Community-Based Services is a series of state-specific fact sheets that explore the new options for states to expand home- and community-based services through the health reform law and the reasons why expanding this type of services is a good idea. (Summer 2010)
Covering Pregnant Women: CHIPRA Offers a New Option discusses the new option that states have to provide pregnant women with comprehensive health care during pregnancy and for a limited postpartum period, and a simple administrative way to do so. (July 2010)
How Health Reform Helps Low-Income Children discusses how health reform sustains Medicaid and CHIP funding, enhances enrollment in the programs, further expands children's coverage, and increases their health care benefits. (July 2010)
Streamlining Citizenship Documentation: States Can Make Documenting Citizenship and Identity Easier discusses several important changes that the CHIP Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA) made to the citizenship documentation requirement that make it less burdensome for consumers and states. (June 2010)
Early Medicaid Expansions under Health Reform discusses how states can expand their Medicaid programs under a state plan amendment prior to 2014-and why they should. (May 2010)
Establishing a Consumer Health Assistance Program in Your Community: Consumer health assistance programs provide valuable services to people who have questions about health insurance (such as Medicaid or private insurance) or who are having trouble getting access to health care. For information on establishing such a program in your community, click here.
From the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:
Childless Adults Who Become Eligible for Medicaid in 2014 Should Receive Standard Benefits Package explains that, while health reform allows states to provide newly eligible people with either regular Medicaid benefits or a less comprehensive package (comparable to private insurance), uninsured, childless adults tend to have greater health needs and would be best served by a more comprehensive package. Given that the federal government will pick up the vast majority of the costs of this expansion, it should be a viable option for states. (July 2010)
Health Reform Expands Medicaid Coverage for People with Disabilities explains why Medicaid, rather than private insurance, is often a better option for people with disabilities or chronic conditions, given its affordability and comprehensive benefits. (July 2010)
Medicaid Expansion in Health Reform Not Likely to “Crowd Out” Private Insurance finds that the expansion will overwhelmingly provide coverage to people who would otherwise be uninsured, rather than shift people with private coverage into Medicaid. The analysis shows that fears about “crowding out” private insurance are exaggerated and inconsistent with past experiences with similar expansions. (June 2010)
From Health Affairs:
Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Dental Care for Publicly Insured Children finds that Latino and African American children in Medicaid experience higher rates of tooth decay and visit the dentist less often than other children in the program. These findings raise concerns about Medicaid’s ability to address disparities in dental health, suggesting that policy makers should develop new approaches to eliminating disparities in Medicaid. (July 2010) Subscription Required
From the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured
Expanding Medicaid to Low-Income Childless Adults under Health Reform: Key Lessons from State Experiences uses interviews with officials and experts from across the country to help inform efforts to expand Medicaid to childless adults. Key findings include that their limited connection to public programs, fluctuating incomes, and language and cultural barriers all serve as challenges to reaching and enrolling childless adults. (July 2010)
From the Kaiser Family Foundation:
Medicaid Long-Term Services and Supports: Key Changes in the Health Reform Law outlines several provisions, such as the expansion of the home- and community-based services state plan option, the community first choice option, and the CLASS program. Implementation of these provisions presents a new opportunity for states to expand access to home- and community-based services in Medicaid. (June 2010)
From the National Women’s Law Center:
What Women Need to Know about Health Reform: Improving Access to Affordable Preventive Care looks at how women will benefit from provisions in health reform that expand coverage for preventive care in private plans, Medicare, and Medicaid, and that eliminate cost-sharing for those services. (June 2010)
From the Urban Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation:
How Will the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 Affect Young Adults? describes how different elements of health reform will help young adults, specifically the Medicaid expansion, subsidies for private insurance, the expansion of dependent coverage, and insurance market reforms. (July 2010)
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