Center on Budget & Policy Priorities: 'States to Get Enhanced Medicaid Funding Through 2021'
* * *
While reassuring governors that the PHE will be renewed through 2021 -- so the additional relief will continue for at least 11 months -- the
As our estimates in the table below show, states can count on
These additional federal dollars help states to:
* Continue to respond to rapidly changing public health needs. COVID-19 continues to strain states financially as they build the infrastructure to deliver vaccinations, make testing more widely available, deliver care to infected individuals (particularly those requiring inpatient care), create and support quarantine environments, and ramp up public communications efforts and contact tracing, among other actions.
* Use Medicaid to cover COVID-19-related needs. Medicaid gives states wide flexibility to help address the crisis -- from expanding eligibility to cover uninsured people who need vaccinations as well as testing and care, to broadening coverage of telehealth, covering certain quarantine-related costs, and expanding the availability of home- and community-based services. The enhanced FMAP helps states invest in targeted Medicaid changes that meet their needs.
* Prevent Medicaid cuts during the public health crisis. State policymakers -- bound by balanced budget requirements -- face pressure to cut Medicaid costs during economic downturns, history shows. Medicaid enrollment naturally rises during any downturn, while state revenues fall. Indeed, Medicaid enrollment has risen steadily since the pandemic began. A downturn coupled with a public health emergency puts extra burdens on Medicaid to provide additional treatment. The FMAP increase has helped bolster the public health response and ensured that Medicaid remains available to those who need it, including millions of workers in essential or front-line industries.
* Weather the economic downturn. Rising unemployment and falling economic activity have dramatically reduced state tax revenues while demand for programs like Medicaid and unemployment insurance has risen. States urgently need additional fiscal relief, but the FMAP increase has provided an important cushion, freeing up funding that states would otherwise need for Medicaid and enabling them to sustain funding for other critical needs.
TABLE 1. Preliminary Estimates of Increase in Federal Funding from FMAP Increase Under Enacted Legislation, Based on Urban Institute State Expenditure Projections
Table omitted: https://www.cbpp.org/blog/states-to-get-enhanced-medicaid-funding-through-2021
[Category: ThinkTank1]
Biden And GOP Senators Offer Competing COVID-19 Relief Plans
Top Asian News 11:26 a.m. GMT
Advisor News
Annuity News
Health/Employee Benefits News
Life Insurance News