WASHINGTON --- Senator Chuck Grassley today said it was "shameful" that the Senate failed to establish fair treatment for Iowa, 33 other states and the District of Columbia with the additional federal Medicaid dollars that would go to states if the economic stimulus bill is passed and signed into law.
All but eleven Democratic senators voted against Grassley's "fair treatment" amendment, which would have redistributed $2.3 billion of the $87 billion for enhanced Federal Medical Assistance Percentage, or FMAP, payments.
Grassley cried foul against the formula bias last week, and today he said, "it's inexcusable for the Senate to disregard the very difficult economic situation facing every state and give disproportionate help to big states at the expense of the fair share of 34 other states with the federal-state Medicaid formula."
The Senate bill is so skewed to big states that Iowa's share of the additional funding would have increased by more than 21 percent, or $128 million, in the level playing field that would have been established by the Grassley amendment.
In addition to Iowa, Grassley's amendment would have secured fair treatment with the enhanced FMAP payments for Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, DC, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
The Grassley amendment was budget neutral, and 75 percent of the redistributed FMAP funds would have come from California, Illinois, Massachusetts and New York. Grassley's amendment would have given each state the same flat 9.5 percent increase in its FMAP payment and allowed states to choose which nine consecutive quarters in an 11-quarter period best fits the economic needs of the state.
This amendment was just one of several filed by Grassley to fix flaws in the Medicaid provisions that are part of the overall proposal. In a lengthy floor statement delivered earlier this week, Grassley said the bill fails to prevent states that take the extra federal money from cutting their Medicaid programs, raising taxes, and raising tuition. He said the proposal is also "out of control" for not requiring states to address fraud, waste and abuse and the fiscal sustainability of their Medicaid programs.