The Kaiser Family Foundation has released the attached report suggesting that the landmark Medicaid’s Money Follows the Person Program may have an uncertain future should funding expire soon.
The report, entitled Medicaid Money Follows the Person Program: State Progress and Uncertainty Pending Federal Funding Reauthorization makes the following key points:
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Medicaid’s Money Follows the Person (MFP) demonstration provides states with enhanced federal matching funds for services and supports to help seniors and people with disabilities move from institutions to the community. Over 90,000 Americans have participated in MFP from 2007 through June 2018.
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With a short-term funding extension set to expire on December 31, 2019, MFP’s future remains uncertain for the 44 states participating in the program, without a longer-term reauthorization by Congress. Twenty percent of MFP states will have exhausted their current funds by the end of 2019, and the vast majority of the remaining states expect to do so during 2020.
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Over one-third of MFP states identified a range of services that they expect to discontinue if federal funding expires, with community transition services most often cited. States also expect that they will not be able to maintain staff and activities focused on enrollee outreach and community housing, which are financed with enhanced federal matching funds.
According to an article in today’s Crain’s Health Pulse, “funding for Medicaid’s Money Follows the Person demonstration, which has served more than 90,000 people in 44 states since 2007, is set to expire Dec. 31. The program provides federal matching funds for services to help seniors and individuals with disabilities transition from institutional care to community-based care.
Though nine states will have exhausted current funds by the end of the year, New York is one of 35 states that has not. However, it’s still at risk, absent a reauthorization of the program by Congress. New York plans to discontinue activities if federal funding is not reauthorized, according to the foundation.
Though there “does not appear to be substantive disagreement” about the program, as is the case with other federal health efforts, it’s expiration is coming as Congress is “engaged in a contentious budget debate with other competing demands,” the foundation said.
Between 2008 and mid-2018, nearly 5,000 New Yorkers transitioned to living in the community of their choice through the program.
New York is facing a multibillion-dollar Medicaid deficit. The state budget office said Friday that its Medicaid spending will exceed a statutory cap by $4 billion this fiscal year unless the state implements a savings plan.”