House Republicans Ask CMS for Direction on ACA Implementation - Aug. 21, 2012

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Fred Upton (R-MI) and Health Subcommittee Chair Joe Pitts (R-PA) sent a letter on Aug. 20 to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) regarding outstanding questions about Affordable Care Act (ACA) regulations and the Medicaid expansion. As the Supreme Court’s June ACA decision made Medicaid expansion voluntary for states, many states have reached out to CMS for guidance on how to proceed. In the letter, Upton and Pitts noted that the regulatory uncertainty hinders states’ ability to make decisions on the Medicaid expansion and implement other ACA provisions. Specifically, the letter asks CMS to respond by Sept. 3 to questions posed in earlier letters by the Republican Governors Association and the National Association of Medicaid Directors and to provide the committee with an outline of all outstanding exchange- and Medicaid-related provisions and their target completion dates.