Weighing Potential Pros and Cons of Medicaid Block Grants December 12, 2016 Medicaid Block Grants: Boom, Then Bust? – Health Plan Week Health Plan Week interviewed Manatt’s Deborah Bachrach, a partner with Manatt Health, for an article on Medicaid’s potential move to block grants. While Medicaid is a federal entitlement program through which state funding is matched with federal dollars, block grants would be an appropriation, and would need to be approved by congressional committees each year. Block grants start with a fixed base-year spending amount, and it’s the state’s job to manage the program within that amount. It’s unknown whether funding under that model would include the spending for adults who gained coverage through Medicaid expansion under the ACA and, to the extent it did, how those funds would be allocated across states. Bachrach noted that in 2016, expansion states received close to $60 billion in federal funding to cover the cost of services for expansion adults. “This is where the food fight across states begins,” said Bachrach. “If you are an expansion state getting these additional federal dollars, can you count on those dollars in your base allocation?” Read the article here.
