The 2009 economic “stimulus” package and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) imposed new Medicaid eligibility restrictions on the states called “maintenance of effort” (MOE) requirements. This lack of flexibility makes it especially challenging for Texas and other states to solve unprecedented state budget crises, and governors have asked Washington for relief from these excessive constraints.
U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) plans to introduce legislation in the coming weeks that will ease federal restrictions placed on state governments. The legislation would follow up on the governors’ request to not impose maintenance of effort requirements and allow states to take reasonable steps to balance their budgets and simultaneously lower federal entitlement spending.
Governors have also approached the federal government in an effort to transform Medicaid into block-grant payments. Don Berwick, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator, told reporters on Tuesday that block grants aren’t on the table according to the Hill on March 1.