Medicaid: The Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP)
April 7, 2010 - RL32950
Medicaid is a health insurance program jointly funded by the federal government and the states. Generally, eligibility for Medicaid is limited to low-income children, pregnant women, parents of dependent children, the elderly, and people with disabilities. The federal government's share of a state's expenditures for most Medicaid services is called the federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP). The remainder is referred to as the nonfederal share, or state share. Generally determined annually, the FMAP is designed so that the federal government pays a larger portion of Medicaid costs in states with lower per capita income relative to the national average (and vice versa for states with higher per capita incomes). For FY2010, the regular FMAPs--that is, excluding the impact of the temporary FMAP increase included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA, P.L. 111-5)--range from 50.00% to 75.67%. In the State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), expenditures are generally reimbursed at the enhanced FMAP (E-FMAP). This is calculated by reducing the state share under the regular FMAP by 30%. In recent years, the fiscal situation of the states has focused attention on Medicaid expenditures, as well as on changes in the federal share, or FMAP. In the 108th ...