[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 87 (Wednesday, May 6, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25054-25055]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-11959]


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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 Aid to Families With Dependent Children, 
Medicaid, and Aid to Aged, Blind, or Disabled Persons for October 1, 
1997 Through October 1, 1998 and for October 1, 1998 Through September 
30, 1999; Clarification and Correction

Action: Notice of clarification and correction.

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SUMMARY: This Notice clarifies the status of Alaska and the District of 
Columbia shown in the Tables of Federal Medical Assistance percentages 
calculated for determining the amount of Federal matching in State 
welfare and medical expenditures for Fiscal Years 1998 and 1999 and 
corrects an error for the District of Columbia for 1999. For Medicaid 
and for the Child Health Insurance Program, the percentages given in 
the notices are correct. For other uses, including the remaining Title 
IV programs, the Alaskan percentage for 1998 should be 50.00% and for 
1999 should be 52.26%. The District of Columbia percentage should be 
50.00% for both years.

EFFECTIVE DATES: The corrected percentages will be effective for each 
of the 4 quarter-year periods in the period beginning October 1, 1997 
and ending September 30, 1998 and for each of the 4 quarter-year 
periods in the period beginning October 1, 1998 and ending September 
30, 1999.


[[Page 25055]]


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Gene Moyer, Office of Health 
Policy, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, 
Room 442E Hubert H. Humphrey Building, 200 Independence Avenue, SW, 
Washington, D.C. 20201, Telephone (202) 690-7861.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Balanced Budget Act, passed in July 
1997, specified new Federal Medical Assistance Percentages for Alaska 
and for the District of Columbia for fiscal years 1998, 1999, and 2000. 
On January 29, 1997, in Notice 97-2231 beginning on page 4293, the 
Department published the 1998 percentages. On September 12, 1997, in 
Notice 97-24324 beginning on page 48098, the Department published 
updated percentages for Alaska and the District of Columbia for 
purposes of Medicaid and the New Children's Health Insurance Program. 
On November 24, 1997, in Notice 97-30832 beginning on page 62613, the 
Office of the Secretary announced the percentages for use in 
determining the amount of Federal matching in State welfare and medical 
expenditures for October 1, 1998 through September 30, 1999. The FY1999 
Notice provided a Table on pages 62614-62615 that listed Federal 
Medical Assistance percentages and Enhanced Federal Medical Assistance 
percentages for each of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto 
Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern 
Mariana Islands. The Federal Medical Assistance Percentage for Alaska 
is listed as 59.80% and for the District of Columbia as 70.00%. The 
enhanced percentages were 71.86% for Alaska and 79.00% for the District 
of Columbia. These are the correct percentages for Medicaid and 
Children's Health Insurance. For Title IV and perhaps some other 
programs, the percentages for Alaska and the District of Columbia were 
to be calculated in the usual way.
    The FY 1999 Notice recognized this for the State of Alaska. The 
second sentence in the second footnote to the table read ``For other 
purposes, the percentage for Alaska is 52.26%.'' The error was that the 
sentence should have included the District of Columbia and should have 
been more specific about the uses of the standard rates. The sentence 
should have read ``For other purposes, including programs remaining in 
Title IV of the Act, the percentage for Alaska is 52.26% and for the 
District of Columbia is 50.00%.''

    Dated: April 19, 1998.
Neil J. Stillman,
Assistant Secretary for Information Resource Management.
[FR Doc. 98-11959 Filed 5-5-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4110-60-M