Threats to Medicaid and CHIP

Dear Partners,                                      

We wanted to update you on important developments related to the attempt by Congressional Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) maintenance of effort (MOE) requirements. As many of you may know, the MOE requires states to maintain certain eligibility standards and procedures for children and adults on Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) that were in place prior to the enactment of the ACA. The attempt to repeal the MOE represents a grave threat to the children and families who rely on the program for access to high-quality, affordable care. 

At the beginning of May, Senator Hatch (R-UT) and Representative Gingrey (R-GA) introduced the State Flexibility Act (H.R. 1683) to repeal the MOE requirements. Late last week, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health passed the MOE repeal bill on a party-line vote. The next step is for the full committee to vote on the bill.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has released a cost estimate of H.R. 1683 that clearly outlines that negative consequences of repealing the MOE requirement. CBO has projected the following consequences as a result of MOE repeal:

  • In 2013, over 260,000 children (as well as about 140,000 adults) would lose access to Medicaid and CHIP. This reduction in access would be largely due to states now having the ability the put administrative barriers to enrollment in place.
  • By 2016, 1.7 million children would lose access to CHIP, as half of all states are projected to eliminate their CHIP programs altogether. About 300,000 of these children would become uninsured with the others finding access to coverage elsewhere.

The MOE repeal-along with other threats to Medicaid, such as converting the program into a block grant and creating a global cap on federal health expenditures-will continue to be the most pivotal federal issue related to coverage for children and families for many months to come. We will be in touch with you regularly as opportunities arise to help prevent these attempts from coming to fruition.

If you have any questions related to this issue, please feel free to contact Patrick M. Tigue at (617) 275-2931 or ptigue@communitycatalyst.org. Thank you for your continued advocacy to advance the health of New England's children and families.

Sincerely,

Amy Rosenthal
Project Director

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