Rep. Haaland Leads Call for Immediate Relief for State Medicaid Programs to Increase Health Care Access

WASHINGTON, April 25 -- Rep. Debra Haaland, D-New Mexico, issued the following news release:

Congresswoman Deb Haaland (NM-01) is leading a call for immediate relief for state Medicaid programs to increase health care access. With the coronavirus pandemic sweeping through the country, more residents qualify for Medicaid increasing the financial burden for state governments. In a letter to U.S. House leadership, Haaland and eighteen members of Congress called for an increase to the federal match for Medicaid to increase access to health care and ensure states have the resources to manage increased demand.

In the letter, the members wrote, "Medicaid provides a vital health care safety net for more than 72 million Americans and can only effectively function with the help of the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) for state Medicaid expenditures. Medicaid remains one of the single largest expenditures in state budgets every year and the cost continues to increase alongside prescription drug prices."

Specifically, the members are calling for:

* Enhancing the federal Medicaid match by 5.8 percentage points, to a total of 12 percentage points when combined with the Families First Coronavirus Response Act's (FFCRA) 6.2 percentage point enhancement with the same crucial maintenance of effort requirements provided in FFRCA;

* A federal match for state Medicaid administrative activities increase to 75 percent; and

* Enhancements to also apply directly to the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

Full letter to U.S. House leadership is available below.

April 23, 2020

To: The Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, U.S. House of Representatives, H-232, The Capitol, Washington, D.C. 20515

The Honorable Kevin McCarthy, Minority Leader, U.S. House of Representatives, H-204, The Capitol, Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Speaker Pelosi and Minority Leader McCarthy:

We write to express our strong support for providing immediate fiscal relief for state Medicaid programs by further enhancing the federal match by 5.8 percentage points, to a total of 12 percentage points when combined with the Families First Coronavirus Response Act's (FFCRA) 6.2 percentage point enhancement with the same crucial maintenance of effort requirements provided in FFRCA. In addition, we believe the federal match for state Medicaid administrative activities should be increased to 75 percent.

Medicaid provides a vital health care safety net for more than 72 million Americans and can only effectively function with the help of the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) for state Medicaid expenditures. Medicaid remains one of the single largest expenditures in state budgets every year and the cost continues to increase alongside prescription drug prices.

Since March 14, 2020, more than 22 million Americans have filed new unemployment claims. Twenty-one states have seen more than one in 10 eligible workers file for claims while some sates have seen numbers as high as one in six workers. As we continue to fight this public health crisis, unemployment percentages may raise to the high teens, resulting in not only overwhelmed unemployment offices, but a never before seen increase in Medicaid applicants and recipients.

State budgets are simply not prepared to handle this increase in cost and if we do not intervene, they may have to make draconian cuts to other vital programs, including education and infrastructure. We must take more significant action to ensure Medicaid provider infrastructure remains fiscally sound during this crisis and that it does not trigger another crisis by obliterating state budgets.

An additional FMAP enhancement of 5.8 percentage points will help provide states with the fiscal support necessary to meet increasing demands on Medicaid programs. As with the Families First Conoravirus Response Act, this enhancement should also apply directly to the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). An additional increase in the federal match for state Medicaid administrative activities to 75 percent should also help states manage an increase in enrollment applications and allow states to reinvest in other vital programs during this crisis.

For these reasons, we support increasing the Medicaid federal match, CHIP federal match, and state Medicaid administrative activities federal match with the same crucial maintenance of effort requirements provided in FFRCA.

Sincerely,

Deb Haaland, Member of Congress

Shelia Jackson Lee

Jahana Hayes

Steve Cohen

Nanette Diaz Barragan

Raul M. Grijalva

Lloyd Doggett

Rosa DeLauro

Eddie Bernice Johnson

Abigail D. Spanberger

Dina Titus

Andre Carson

Chellie Pingree

Eleanor Holmes Norton

David E. Price

Denny Heck

Adam Smith

Jesus G. "Chuy" Garcia

Alma S. Adams, Ph.D.