Government
Democrats: CMS can't curtail Medicaid expansions
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Feb. 4, 2008
Five House and Senate Democratic leaders said the Bush administration has overstepped its authority by limiting states' ability to expand Medicaid eligibility beyond 250% of the federal poverty level.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued a State Children's Health Insurance Program policy in August 2007 restricting states from enrolling children from incomes above that threshold unless several conditions are met. These stipulations include first enrolling 95% of children from families earning 200% of poverty or less, or $34,340 for a family of three.
Democrats, in a Jan. 14 letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt, said CMS has no legal grounds to apply the policy to SCHIP or Medicaid programs that rely on SCHIP funds, because federal law does not authorize CMS to essentially impose an income eligibility cap on the programs.
The administration's policy reflects concerns that enrolling higher-income children and families will lead them to drop private health insurance, an effect known as "crowd out," according Dennis Smith, director of the CMS Center for Medicaid and State Operations. The policy says the agency has the authority to require states to implement procedures to prevent crowd out.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/02/04/gvbf0204.htm.
