FMAP Still Not Passed by Congress

FMAP Still Not Passed by Congress Last night, another attempt by U.S. Senate Democrats to pass an “extenders” bill that includes an extension of enhanced federal Medicaid funding (FMAP) came up short. The FMAP extension is worth more than $600 million to Ohio, $24 billion nationally, and is the American Health Care Association’s top short-term legislative priority. After neither the original extenders bill crafted by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) nor a Republican alternative attracted enough votes to end debate, a process called cloture, Chairman Baucus introduced a revised version of the legislation that would increase the federal budget deficit less than his first bill. This effort resulted in last night’s vote, and its failure sent the Democrats back to the drawing board. The Senate’s difficulty in moving an extenders bill, despite heavy pressure for such provisions as the FMAP extension and postponing cuts to the Medicare physician fee schedule, stems from concerns about deficit spending. These concerns were not as prominent earlier when both the House and the Senate passed differing versions of the extenders bill, but have come to the forefront as the mid-term election nears. The Democratic extenders packages contained both the FMAP extension and the RUGs IV delay elimination; the Republican bill did not. No further action on the legislation is expected until after the weekend.

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