Medicaid Reform Proposals in Congress–What to Know

Republican lawmakers are divided over a potential change in Medicaid funding that pits moderates against fiscal hawks and threatens to further delay the budget reconciliation process. Two proposals at the center of contention would shift additional responsibility for funding the program—which provides health coverage for millions of low-income Americans—from the federal government to the states. One proposal would reduce the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP), which sets the Medicaid reimbursement states receive from the federal government. The other proposal would, for the first time, cap the total reimbursement a state could receive from the federal government, basing the cap on the number of Medicaid enrollees in each state....