Medicaid

Alabama

Alabama has already started to receive stimulus funds for Medicaid payments. The state’s Medicaid Department received $169 million for expenses incurred from Oct. 2008 to March 2009. The funding means that Alabama will not have to make cuts, as had been planned. The first stimulus money coming to Alabama is now in the bank for the state Medicaid department.

 

California

3/17/09 - The California Budget Project on March 9 released a study of what the American Recovery and Reinvesment Act will mean to the state. The nonpartisan group estimated the state will receive $50 billion from the stimulus package, about 6.4 percent of the package. According to the study, California will receive $17.2 billion through increased Medicaid funding and the state fiscal stabilization funds.

 

Colorado

Colorado will get about $140 million of the $15 billion in Medicaid money that President Barack Obama announced he would dispense immediately, and the state will put it toward an expanding caseload and physician reimbursements. Colorado expects to receive between $191 million and $202 million in Medicaid help this year. Much of that will go to a caseload that is rising as more people lose jobs. Stimulus money also will go to reinstate medical provider-rate reimbursements that had been proposed for reduction in this year's budget, said Sen. Moe Keller, a Wheat Ridge Democrat and Joint Budget Committee chairwoman.

 

Georgia

3/16/09  - A proposal by Georgia's governor to cut hundreds of millions of health care dollars from the state's budget could have a severely negative impact, officials say in a story in the Albany Herald. Last week, Gov. Sonny Perdue informed legislative budget writers of his intention to cut payments by $81 million to hospitals and physicians by reducing state Medcaid funds for fiscal year 2010. The federal government matches $2 for every one dollar the state contributes to Medicaid, which means the cuts would actually equal in excess of $320 million for hospitals alone. One of the immediate concerns officials are faced with is how access to health care for patients will be affected.

"Even with the federal stimulus, we still had $500 million in cuts that we needed to make, said Bret Brantley, director of communications for Perdue's office. "These are tough cuts to make."

Hospitals will not be the only entities impacted by the proposal. It is expected to cut Medicaid reimbursement rates for physicians by 6 percent.

 

2/25/09 - Georgia received its first chunk of stimulus money in late February with $339 million landing in state coffers for the Medicaid program. This accounts for about two-thirds of the money the state expects to receive for Medicaid.

 

Hawaii
Hawaii will receive $350 million in additional Medicaid funding.

 

Idaho

Proposed cuts to Medicaid will not be restored to previous levels. Instead, Idaho will use the stimulus package's higher federal match to shift state general funds to state agencies that don't stand to directly benefit from federal money, according to The Idaho Statesman.

 

 

 

Indiana

Indiana has begun receiving additional Medicaid payments, which will total $247 million over two quarters. In the next two years, Indiana will receive $1.4 billion in additional Medicaid funds, increasing the federal government’s share of the state’s Medicaid payments from 64 percent to 70.2 percent.

 

Iowa
Iowa has begun receiving additional Medicaid payments, which will total $90 million over two quarters.

 

Kansas
According to The Washington Post, Republican leaders want to use some of the money freed up by the increased federal Medicaid share not just to cover other spending but also to comply with a state requirement that its budget contain a small end-of-the-year cushion.  It is unclear whether this is allowed due to the “rainy day” provision in the stimulus bill.  This approach is raising eyebrows, particularly among advocacy groups who want the money to be spent for Medicaid services.   They feel that this spending the money on Medicaid will do more to stimulate the economy.

 

The Senate Ways and Means Committee endorsed part of the governor's paln to use the stimulus funds. On March 10, they agreed to use Medicaid dollars from the stimulus package to shore up the budget for fiscal year 2010.

 

Kentucky

Kentucky's Medicaid program will receive about $990 million over the next two years. The program currently faces a $232 million deficit this year, while demand for services is increasing by about 3,000 people a month due to the economy.

 

Louisiana

Gov. Jindal has agreed to accept approximately $1 billion in federal stimulus money for Medicaid and other health care related projects. Specific dollar amounts are still being determined, but Angela Davis, the state's chief budget officer, expects Louisiana to receive between $950 million and $1.1 billion for Medcaid.

 

Maine
Maine is expected to receive $94.5 million for the Medicaid enhanced federal match for the first six months of federal FY 09. The state will receive $2.6 million in community health center grants, potentially impacting over 11,000 patients and 85 jobs.

 

Maryland
The state is expected to receive $275 million for the Medicaid enhanced federal match for the first six months of federal FY 09.

 

Massachusetts
Massachusetts is expected to receive $594 million for the Medicaid enhanced federal match for the first six months of federal FY 09. The commonwealth will receive $1.3 million in community health center grants, potentially impacting more than 7,000 patients and 50 jobs.

 

Mississippi

3/20/09 - The federal health department says hospitals in Louisiana and Mississippi can get $22 million in stimulus money to help cover costs for poor and uninsured patients, reports the Biloxi Sun Herald.

 

The U.S. Department of Health and Hospitals says it is giving an extra $3.7 million to Mississippi for hospitals serving a disproportionate share of low-income or uninsured people. It says states must show they've used all their "disproportionate share" money for fiscal 2009 before tapping into the new money, and must ask for it as part of their quarterly Medicaid budget request.

 

Mississippi has received $137 million as a first installment of about $750 million it is due in stimulus Medicaid funds.

 

Missouri
Missouri received its first payment for Medicaid of $223 million Feb. 26, according to the St. Louis Business Journal. According to the governor's office, the money came from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and amounts to an 8.05 percent increase in the federal reimbursement percentage for Missouri's Medicaid expenditures as applied to the state's expenditures for October 2008 through February.

 

Nebraska
Gov. Dave Heineman has announced that Nebraska will receive a temporary increase in Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) funding through AARA. The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services begun processing the first in a series of federal fund draws today, totaling nearly $38 million. FMAP funds are reimbursements from the federal government for services paid for by the state. Services for Medicaid-eligible individuals are paid for with a combination of state and federal funds. The state pays service providers and is later reimbursed for the federal share of costs.

 

This temporary Medicaid match will be retroactive to Oct. 1, 2008, and extend through Dec. 31, 2010, resulting in an estimated increase of $227.7 million.

 

New Hampshire

3/20/09 - The state has already received $31.5 million in the first round of Medicaid funding. New Hampshire will be using part of the money it receives for Medicaid to free up state funds that can be used to fill a roughly $150 million hole in the current budget, according to The Associated Press.  

 

 

New Jersey
$15 billion in Medicaid relief funding is expected to start flowing through the system Wednesday. New Jersey is expecting $2.2 billion in federal Medicaid over the next two years.

 

New Mexico

In the budget, the House used $164.7 million for Medicaid match, which is recurring. The funding means that New Mexico will not have to make as deep cuts, as has been planned.

 

 

 

North Carolina

North Carolina will receive more than $439 million in Medicaid relief through the stimulus. The state will most likely use the money to pay for an expected increase in the number of people receiving Medicaid due to job loss or loss of private health insurance - symptoms of the current recession, Brad Dean, a spokesman for the state's Department of Health and Human Services, told The Fayetteville Observer.

 

Pennsylvania
4/16/09 - $1.1 billion has been designated for Medicaid, and an additional $13.7 million has been identified for the Disproportionate Share Hospitals funding for FY2009. Total program funding identified to date for Health and Human Services, including Medicaid, appears on the Department of Health and Human Services recovery site.

 

South Carolina

In anticipation of accepting federal funds for Medicaid, the South Carolina House budget restores FMAP funding to the October 2008 funding level, according to Rep. Joan Brady. However, the governor has not determined whether or not his cabinet agencies will accept funds from the federal stimulus.

 

Tennessee

Tennessee is expecting to receive $1.5 to $1.6 billion for Medicaid. According to the Memphis Business Journal, it also will get $2.8 million to build health centers, part of a $155 million grant to build 126 new health centers across America, according to a news release from a government Web site. Although the statement gave no details about where the Tennessee centers would be located, it claimed the funds would provide health care access to 10,740 Tennesseans and employ 80 people.

 

According to the Chattanooga Times Free Press, health care providers in Tennessee still are feeling queasy despite an injection of millions in Medicaid stimulus money this fiscal year. Tennessee will receive about $300 million in Medicaid relief funds this fiscal year under the economic stimulus package, staving off proposed cuts to TennCare payments to hospitals. To close a projected $900 million shortfall this year, Gov. Phil Bredesen asked state agencies for 15 percent reductions in their budgeters. TennCare officials had proposed cuts to supplemental payments to hospitals and some grant programs to meet the requirement, said Kelly Gunderson, TennCare spokeswoman. No enrollment cuts or service reductions were on the table, she said.

 

Texas

Federal officials released another $14.4 million to support 12 Texas health centers --- many of which provide care to people with no health insurance. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, the federal money is expected to create more than 400 jobs in the state.

 

Utah
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Utah has received more than $53 million in Medicaid funding through March 6.

 

 

Puerto Rico

3/13/09 - Puerto Rico is expected to receive $40 million in Medicaid funds.

 

U.S. Virgin Islands

 

The U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Health received $4 million for Medicaid.