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Kilili: Federal match rates for NMI’s Medicaid will remain at 83 pct.
Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan
The federal match rate for the CNMI’s Medicaid will remain at the current 83% through Dec. 23, according to Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (D-MP) over the weekend.
Sablan said in his e-kilili newsletter that the federal matching rate of 83% remains after the U.S. Congress passed last week another fiscal 2023 continuing resolution.
“Without the extension, the statutory rate of 55% would have kicked in, costing the Commonwealth millions of dollars in matching fees,” he said.
The delegate pointed out that the Marianas’ current 83% Federal Medical Assistance Percentage rate, or FMAP, is higher than it is for any state.
Sablan said the FMAP was set in U.S. Public Law 116-94 in 2019, extended in U.S. Public Law 117-103 and in a previous continuing resolution earlier this year, but would have expired on Dec. 16, 2022 without this week’s action.
He said the continuing resolution provides appropriators more time to draft an omnibus spending bill to cover the entire fiscal year.
The delegate said the omnibus is expected to be released yesterday.
Sablan said his congressional office has worked continually this year to make sure the need for the Medicaid extension for the Marianas was not forgotten.
The delegate said he is grateful to U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and to Energy and Commerce Committee chair Rep. Frank Pallone and their staff for their commitment to some 38,000 people in the Marianas who depend on Medicaid for their healthcare.
