GOP Set to Introduce MOE Repeal Legislation - May 3, 2011

A bicameral group of Republicans is set to release a bill today to repeal the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) Medicaid maintenance of effort (MOE) provision. The MOE requirement obliges states to maintain their current Medicaid eligibility standards until 2014, when the ACA’s coverage expansion takes place. The law does allow states to reduce eligibility for non-disabled, non-pregnant adults with incomes above 133 percent of the federal poverty line if the state is experiencing a budget deficit. States facing significant budget shortfalls have called on Congress to repeal this provision in its entirety, which would allow states to drop hundreds of thousands of patients from state Medicaid rolls. NAPH is opposed to a repeal of Medicaid MOE and sent a letter to Congress earlier this year expressing our support for maintaining the MOE requirement. NAPH also joined other hospital groups in signing on to a letter to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services expressing support for the Medicaid MOE provision.