In December 2016, the State Health Reform Assistance Network released an issues brief titled, Capping Federal Medicaid Funding: Key Financing Issues for States.
President-Elect Donald Trump and Republican congressional leadership have called for a repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and a fundamental overhaul of the Medicaid program by imposing caps on federal funding to states. If adopted, capped funding would replace the central feature of Medicaid’s financing structure—the federal government’s legal obligation to share all allowable state Medicaid costs. While capped funding proposals vary in important ways, they all aim to allow the federal government to achieve budget certainty and reduce federal Medicaid spending. Drawing from a review of past proposals, this brief explores financing issues that arise in the design of capped federal funding.
Click here to access the Issue Brief.