On July 28, the Pew Center on the States’ non-partisan non-profit news service Stateline released a primer on Medicaid financing, exploring the changes offered under the Obama Administration’s plan to “blend” rates for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).  Offered as an alternative to the GOP budget plan that passed in the U.S. House on April 15, rather than convert Medicaid into a block grant program, President Obama’s proposal would blend the CHIP rate, the existing Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) for Medicaid, and the rate set to apply to newly covered Medicaid enrollees under health reform’s 2014 expansion.  Though the Administration has yet to release details of the blending plan, the primer examines the impact of potential rate blending on states as well as initial reactions from state lawmakers.

From the report:

To states, the most significant part of Obama’s plan is a change in a few key funding formulas that determine how many federal dollars states get for Medicaid. Obama’s so-called “blended rate” would simplify the way federal money is divvied among the states. But it also would shift a greater share of Medicaid spending to the states —which has riled numerous governors and nearly everyone in the health care community. How would the blended rate proposal change Medicaid? Here’s a primer on the way Medicaid is currently financed, and the possible impacts of the administration’s plan.

Full report: Medicaid Explained: How a 'Blended Rate' Would Work

Stateline. (2011). Medicaid explained: how a 'blended rate' would work. Vestal, Christine.