[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 226 (Wednesday, November 24, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68370-68373]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-26056]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Office of the Secretary


Federal Financial Participation in State Assistance Expenditures; 
Federal Matching Shares for Medicaid, the State Children's Health 
Insurance Program, and Aid To Needy Aged, Blind, or Disabled Persons 
for October 1, 2005 Through September 30, 2006

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, DHHS.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Medical Assistance Percentages and Enhanced 
Federal Medical Assistance Percentages for Fiscal Year 2006 have been 
calculated pursuant to the Social Security Act (the Act). These 
percentages will be effective from October 1, 2005 through September 
30, 2006. This notice announces the calculated ``Federal Medical 
Assistance Percentages'' and ``Enhanced Federal Medical Assistance 
Percentages'' that we will use in determining the amount of Federal 
matching for State medical assistance (Medicaid) and State Children's 
Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) expenditures, and Temporary Assistance 
for Needy Families (TANF) Contingency Funds, the federal share of Child 
Support Enforcement collections, Child Care Mandatory and Matching 
Funds of the Child Care and Development Fund, Foster Care Title IV-E 
Maintenance payments, and Adoption Assistance payments. The table gives 
figures for each of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto 
Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of 
the Northern Mariana Islands. Programs under title XIX of the Act exist 
in each jurisdiction; programs under titles I, X, and XIV operate only 
in Guam and the Virgin Islands; while a program under title XVI (Aid to 
the Aged, Blind, or Disabled) operates only in Puerto Rico. Programs 
under title XXI began operating in fiscal year 1998. The percentages in 
this notice apply to State expenditures for most medical services and 
medical insurance services, and assistance payments for certain social 
services. The statute provides separately for Federal matching of 
administrative costs.
    Sections 1905(b) and 1101(a)(8)(B) of the Act require the Secretary 
of Health and Human Services to publish the Federal Medical Assistance 
Percentages each year. The Secretary is to figure the percentages, by 
formulas in sections 1905(b) and 1101(a)(8)(B), from the Department of 
Commerce's statistics of average income per person in each State and in 
the Nation as a whole. The percentages are within the upper and lower 
limits given in section 1905(b) of the Act. The percentages to be 
applied to the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, 
Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands are specified in 
statute, and thus are not based on the statutory formula that 
determines the percentages for the 50 states.
    The ``Federal Medical Assistance Percentages'' are for Medicaid. 
Section 1905(b) of the Act specifies the formula for calculating 
Federal Medical Assistance Percentages as follows:

    ``Federal medical assistance percentage'' for any State shall be 
100 per centum less the State percentage; and the State percentage 
shall be that percentage which bears the same ratio to 45 per centum 
as the square of the per capita income of such State bears to the 
square of the per capita income of the continental United States 
(including Alaska) and Hawaii; except that (1) the Federal medical 
assistance percentage shall in no case be less than 50 per centum or 
more than 83 per centum, (2) the Federal medical assistance 
percentage for Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern 
Mariana Islands, and American Samoa shall be 50 per centum.

    A provision in the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Benefits 
Improvement and Protection Act of 2000 modified the formula to 
calculate the percentages to be applied to Alaska for purposes of 
titles XIX and XXI of the Act for fiscal years 2001 through 2005. For 
Alaska only, the formula required dividing the state's three-year 
average per capita income by 1.05 instead of 1.0. This provision has 
not been extended, and therefore the calculation for Alaska reverts to 
the standard formula.
    In addition, section 4725 of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 
amended section 1905(b) to provide that the Federal Medical Assistance 
Percentage for the District of Columbia for purposes of titles XIX and 
XXI shall be 70 percent. For the District of Columbia, we note under 
the table of Federal Medical Assistance Percentages the rate that 
applies in certain other programs calculated using the formula 
otherwise applicable, and the rate that applies in certain other 
programs pursuant to section 1118 of the Social Security Act.
    Section 2105(b) of the Act specifies the formula for calculating 
the Enhanced Federal Medical Assistance Percentages as follows:

    The ``enhanced FMAP'', for a State for a fiscal year, is equal 
to the Federal medical assistance percentage (as defined in the 
first sentence of section 1905(b)) for the State increased by a 
number of percentage points equal to 30 percent of the number of 
percentage points by which (1) such Federal medical assistance 
percentage for the State, is less than (2) 100 percent; but in no 
case shall the enhanced FMAP for a State exceed 85 percent.

    The ``Enhanced Federal Medical Assistance Percentages'' are for use 
in the State Children's Health Insurance Program under Title XXI, and 
in the Medicaid program for certain children for expenditures for 
medical assistance described in sections 1905(u)(2) and 1905(u)(3) of 
the Act. There is no specific requirement to publish the Enhanced 
Federal Medical Assistance Percentages. We include them in this notice 
for the convenience of the States.

DATES: The percentages listed will be effective for each of the 4 
quarter-year periods in the period beginning October 1, 2005 and ending 
September 30, 2006.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carrie Becker or Robert Stewart, 
Office of Health Policy, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning 
and Evaluation, Room 447D--Hubert H. Humphrey

[[Page 68371]]

Building, 200 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20201, (202) 
690-6870.

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Program Nos. 93.558: TANF 
Contingency Funds; 93.563: Child Support Enforcement; 93-596: Child 
Care Mandatory and Matching Funds of the Child Care and Development 
Fund; 93.658: Foster Care Title IV-E; 93.659: Adoption Assistance; 
93.769: Ticket-to-Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act (TWWIIA) 
Demonstrations to Maintain Independence and Employment; 93.778: 
Medical Assistance Program; 93.767: State Children's Health 
Insurance Program)

    Dated: November 18, 2004.
Tommy G. Thompson,
Secretary of Health and Human Services.

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[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN24NO04.019


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[FR Doc. 04-26056 Filed 11-23-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-24-C