CMS asks for input on Medicaid income eligibility

The Department of Health and Human Services has updated federal matching rates for state Medicaid programs for the Jan. 1 through June 30 period.

The increase was called for in the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which increased the federal match — also known as the federal medical assistance percentage — through Dec. 31, 2010, according to the Bureau of National Affairs. A separate Medicaid assistance measure (Pub. L. No. 111-226), which was signed in August 2010, extended the match through June 30, 2011. The AARA upped every state’s FMAP by 6.2%, and each state was eligible for another increase depending on their unemployment rate from Oct. 1, 2008 to Dec. 31, 2010. The Social Security Act requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to calculate and publish the FMAPs annually.
 
These new rates were published in the Federal Register, along with lists of each state’s FMAP increase and unemployment adjustment for the first and second quarters of fiscal year 2011. These changes are effective for the second and third quarters of fiscal year 2011.