Hawaii gets $16.6M in Medicaid relief
Written on February 20, 2010
The federal government has offered Hawaii $16.6 million in stimulus relief to help cover the costs of prescription drugs for residents eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Thursday that the temporary boost is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. It comes in the form of an increase in the federal medical assistance percentage payments or, FMAP, given to Hawaii and other states.
The money essentially lowers the total amount that states must pay the federal government in so-called clawback payments meant to help cover the costs of their Medicaid programs — specifically the Part D prescription drug program for low-income seniors.
Because Medicaid is funded by states and the federal government, which adds matching dollars, the money reduces the state’s share of the cost burden.
“We believe today’s action will help states as they struggle to maintain Medicaid and other budget priorities in these difficult economic times,” said U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in a prepared statement. “This relief will help states continue to provide critical health-care services to the nearly 60 million beneficiaries who depend upon it.”
The federal government said it will apply the increased FMAP to the clawback payments, which states are required to pay monthly to the federal government under the Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003.
Hawaii would have owed the federal government $60,409,856 in clawback payments, federal officials said.
But under the new formula announced Thursday, that amount will be reduced to $43,814,638 for the period beginning Oct. 31, 2008, and ending Dec. 31, 2010.
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