Senators ask CMS to brief Senate committee on Medicaid waivers

Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Max Baucus (D-MT) have asked Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mark McClellan to brief the Senate Finance Committee on Medicaid waivers under consideration by July 10. The Senators said in a letter they fear the waivers could "potentially make fundamental changes to the Medicaid program in ways that Congress did not anticipate or intend."

The Medicaid waiver proposals could cap federal spending. It could also change the early periodic screening, diagnosis and treatment benefit.

"We understand that several states are developing waiver proposals in consultation with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services that, if approved, would modify the federal-state financing relationship and guarantees for beneficiaries that the Congress has enacted over the last four decades of the Medicaid program," the letter said.

Grassley is the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and Baucus is its ranking Democrat.