In response to the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) that was enacted at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, states have been required to keep individuals continuously enrolled in their Medicaid programs throughout the entirety of the public health emergency (PHE). This mandate marked a shift from the previous policy, which stipulated states to recertify beneficiaries annually and disenroll anyone who no longer qualified.
In order to incentivize states’ compliance with the new requirement, a temporary increase in the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) was offered. FMAP is a formula that determines the federal government’s share of the cost of state Medicaid services. Normally, the federal match varies between 50 and 83 percent depending on the state’s per capita income. However, under the provisions of the FFCRA, states were granted additional federal funding to support Medicaid programs. This increase, pegged to last for the duration of the PHE, was meant to help states retain beneficiaries and reduce the financial strain induced by the pandemic.
As we move towards a post-pandemic era, states are gearing up to confront the implications of unwinding from the FFCRA-enforced Medicaid enrollment. This entails reverting to the standard recertification process and dealing with the potential fallout from disenrollment, a challenge that could have considerable impacts on the states’ respective healthcare landscapes.
For more detailed information on the implications of this legal shift and how it is shaping healthcare policies in numerous states, continue reading here.