Medicaid Block Grants and Federalism Lessons From Canada

• Autores: Benjamin D. Sommers, C. David Naylor
• Localización: JAMA: the journal of the American Medical Association, ISSN 0098-7484, Vol. 317, Nº. 16, 2017, págs. 1619-1620
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Medicaid, the US insurance program for millions of low-income children and adults, has operated for 50 years under a joint state-federal financing system. In exchange for federal funding that covers roughly 50% to 75% of Medicaid program costs depending on the state (the so-called match rate), states agree to administer the program within broad federal guidelines. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) took this combination of federal subsidies and oversight a step further by offering 100% federal funding for those newly eligible under the law’s Medicaid expansion through 2016 (with federal funding now at 95% and ultimately declining to 90%). So far, 31 states have opted into the ACA’s Medicaid expansion, extending coverage to millions and, through heightened public awareness and a streamlined application process, drawing in millions more who were previously eligible. However, Republican leaders are proposing a fundamental reform in Medicaid financing—a shift to block grants.1 Instead of a matching subsidy and federal oversight, block grants would give states an annual lump sum with minimal conditions attached.