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06/07/2010
Call Your Senators Today to Urge Them to Support the FMAP Extension to States
Restore the Six-Month Extension of Increased Medicaid Funding in the ‘Extenders’ Bill
Starting this week, the Senate will take up a House-passed bill that deals with a host of issues, including a temporary fix for the Medicare physician payments; the bill is informally known as the “extenders” bill. Unfortunately, the House stripped the original bill of the six-month extension of the Recovery Act’s increase in federal Medicaid match (FMAP) relief to help state Medicaid programs ? one of n4a’s top priorities.
Please read on for greater detail on the bill and be sure to take action today to urge your Senators to restore the FMAP relief. The Senate’s consideration of the extenders bill is perhaps the last good chance to get the FMAP boost extended. Failing to do so has implications far beyond a state’s Medicaid program, affecting the health of a state’s entire budget and increasing the likelihood of massive reductions in critical services and supports to a number of vulnerable populations ? including seniors.
Action Requested:
à Call Your
à Message: “I ask the Senator to please help restore the six months of extra Medicaid help to states in the “extenders” bill currently under consideration. This relief is essential to prevent harmful cuts to vital Medicaid programs and other home and community-based services in our state.”
Need More Information on FMAP and the Bill?
On May 28 before leaving for the week-long Memorial Day Recess, the House adopted changes to provisions in a tax and social programs extension bill (H.R. 4213) that would block a scheduled 21 percent cut in Medicare reimbursements to physicians (granting them a 2.2 percent increase for the rest of this year and an additional 1 percent boost next year). Under the changes, an $88.5 billion five-year plan to prevent the reimbursement reductions for Medicare doctors was reduced to a $23 billion 19-month extension without incentives for primary and preventive care.
The vote was the second in a two-step process to send the bill back to the Senate. Earlier, the House passed the rest of the package, which includes a six-month extension of current unemployment benefits. However, last-minute negotiations with conservative Blue Dog Democrats resulted in a stripped-down bill that removed two key provisions: an extension until the end of this year of a federal COBRA subsidy for unemployed workers; and a $24 billion six-month extension of the temporary boost in federal matching funds for Medicaid. The six-month extension of the Recovery Act’s increase in federal Medicaid match (FMAP) relief to help state Medicaid programs is a top priority of n4a.
Because the House and Senate could not reach an agreement, the last extension of the unemployment benefits, the “doc fix” and other provisions expired. The Senate is expected to pick up the House measure this week and it is expected that they will make further changes to the legislation. Given these deliberations, it is critical that we mobilize calls to every Senator urging them to support efforts to restore the six-month FMAP extension to the baseline extenders bill before it goes to the Senate floor.
For more information, please contact Amy E. Gotwals or K.J. Hertz, n4a’s Public Policy and Legislative Affairs staff. 202-872-0888.