By Camie Corrigan, assistant director, federal legislative affairs
After the earlier blog post, Congressional Action on FMAP is a “Must Do”, the future of this critical extension of the increase in the federal government’s share of expenses for state Medicaid programs across the country has become uncertain. Last week was tough for me—not only did my pick for American Idol lose, but the extension of FMAP was taken out of a moving legislative vehicle in the House of Representatives. Luckily, I had a long weekend to recover from my disappointment.
Here is a recap:
Just before the Memorial Day holiday triggering the Congressional week-long recess, the House spent days negotiating the provisions of H.R. 4213 "The American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010.” This package of tax extender provisions was critical to children’s hospitals because it contained a six-month extension of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds for the Federal Medical Assistance Program (FMAP). These funds will expire in December of this year and the absence of this federal investment has left states desperate to fill mounting budget gaps on the back of Medicaid.
During the last two weeks, the timeline of when the House planned to vote on H.R. 4213 changed daily. As the Memorial Day recess loomed, Members of the Blue Dog Coalition—fiscally conservative House Democrats—raised serious concern about the level of deficit spending contained in the package and urged House Leadership to trim it down. The Leadership had struggled all week to whip enough votes needed to pass H.R. 4213 and continued to come up short.
In a last minute effort late last Thursday evening, the House amended the extender’s package, divided the bill into two, and removed the provision to extend the enhanced FMAP funds. The legislation was passed in the House without the FMAP extension. The Senate then adjourned on Friday morning and left Washington to head home for the Congressional recess. Several provisions in the package voted on by the House expired on June 1, 2010, which will likely prompt the Senate to take quick action when they return Monday, June 7.
What can we do now?
We are currently working with children’s hospitals across the country to ask the Senate to include the FMAP extension in their version of the bill. The FMAP extension is vital to children’s hospitals and their patients. As we have noted in our other blogs on this topic, without the extension of these funds, states will need to make additional significant cuts to their Medicaid programs. These cuts will impact Medicaid providers and the beneficiaries, including millions of children, who rely on this program for their health insurance coverage. We all need to raise our voice by: 1) Asking our Governors to express their support for FMAP with their Senators; and 2) Asking our Senators to make sure that the FMAP extension is included in the Senate bill.
Comments