I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 816

To provide certain temporary increases in the Federal medical assistance 

percentage (FMAP) under the Medicaid Program to help States finance 

increases in enrollment due to rising unemployment and to prevent reductions in health insurance coverage due to State budget crises. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 13, 2003

Mr. KING of New York (for himself, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Mr. HOUGHTON, 

Mr. DINGELL, Mr. LAHOOD, Mr. MCNULTY, Mr. REYNOLDS, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. PALLONE, Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon, Mr. CARDOZA, Mr. 

WEXLER, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. FILNER, Mr. STARK, Mr. RAHALL, Mr. 

MCGOVERN, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. UDALL of Colorado, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, 

Mrs. MALONEY, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. 

SWEENEY, Mr. MEEHAN, Mr. WATT, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mr. 

ACKERMAN, Mr. CAPUANO, Mr. QUINN, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. 

BERMAN, Mr. DOYLE, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. INSLEE, Mr. 

SCHIFF, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. FARR, Mr. BOUCHER, Mr. MATSUI, Mrs. 

MCCARTHY of New York, Mr. POMEROY, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. DAVIS of Alabama, Mr. COSTELLO, Mr. MICHAUD, Mrs. LOWEY, Mr. TANCREDO, Mr. 

MILLER of North Carolina, Mr. DELAHUNT, Mr. EVANS, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. 

ISRAEL, Mr. KIND, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. BERRY, 

Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. LUCAS of Kentucky, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Ms. 

VELA ́ZQUEZ, Mr. ROSS, Mr. STRICKLAND, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. MURTHA, 

Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. GORDON, Mrs. KELLY, Mr. REYES, Ms. WOOLSEY, 

Mr. DICKS, Mr. OWENS, Ms. BORDALLO, Mr. RUSH, Mr. NADLER, Ms. 

MCCARTHY of Missouri, Mr. FROST, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. HOLDEN, Mr. 

DEUTSCH, Mr. BISHOP of New York, Mr. EMANUEL, Ms. NORTON, Ms. 

LEE, Ms. LINDA T. SA ́NCHEZ of California, Mr. FORD, Mrs. 

CHRISTENSEN, Ms. PELOSI, Mr. ETHERIDGE, Mr. MCHUGH, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Mr. PRICE of North Carolina, Mr. 

WEINER, Mr. FOLEY, Mr. BOEHLERT, Mr. MOLLOHAN, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. 

WALSH, Mr. PASTOR, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. CARSON of Oklahoma, Ms. 

MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. RANGEL, Ms. 

SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. BAIRD, Mr. MCINTYRE, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. 

RODRIGUEZ, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Ms. SOLIS, 

Mr. SNYDER, and Ms. DEGETTE) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
2

•HR 816 IH 

A BILL

To provide certain temporary increases in the Federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP) under the Medicaid 

Program to help States finance increases in enrollment 

due to rising unemployment and to prevent reductions 

in health insurance coverage due to State budget crises.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘State Budget Relief 

5 Act of 2003’’. 

6 SEC. 2. TEMPORARY INCREASES OF MEDICAID FMAP. 

7 (a) PERMITTING MAINTENANCE OF FISCAL YEAR

8 2002 FMAP.—Notwithstanding any other provision of 

9 law, but subject to subsection (d), if the FMAP deter10 mined without regard to this section for a State for a cov11 ered calendar quarter (as defined in subsection (g)(1)) is 

12 less than the FMAP as so determined for fiscal year 2002, 

13 the FMAP for the State for fiscal year 2002 shall be sub14 stituted for the State’s FMAP for each of such covered 

15 calendar quarters, before the application of this section. 

16 (b) GENERAL 2 PERCENTAGE POINT INCREASE.—

17 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, but subject 

18 to subsections (d) and (e), for each State for each covered 

19 calendar quarter, the FMAP (taking into account the ap-
3

•HR 816 IH 

1 plication of subsection (a)) shall be increased by 2 percent2 age points. 

3 (c) FURTHER INCREASE FOR STATES WITH HIGH

4 UNEMPLOYMENT RATES.—

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 

6 provision of law, but subject to subsections (d) and 

7 (e), if a State is a high unemployment State for any 

8 covered calendar quarter, then the FMAP for that 

9 State for that calendar quarter and for any subse10 quent calendar quarter in such fiscal year regardless 

11 of whether the State continues to be high unemploy12 ment State for that subsequent calendar quarter 

13 shall be increased (after the application of sub14 sections (a) and (b)) by 2.5 percentage points. 

15 (2) HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT STATE.—For pur16 poses of this subsection, a State is a high unemploy17 ment State for a calendar quarter if, for any 3 con18 secutive month period beginning on or after June 

19 2002 and ending with the second month before the 

20 beginning of the calendar quarter, the State has an 

21 average seasonally adjusted unemployment rate that 

22 exceeds the average weighted unemployment rate 

23 during such period. Such unemployment rates for 

24 such months shall be determined based on publica-
4

•HR 816 IH 

1 tions of the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the De2 partment of Labor. 

3 (3) AVERAGE WEIGHTED UNEMPLOYMENT RATE

4 DEFINED.—For purposes of paragraph (2), the ‘‘av5 erage weighted unemployment rate’’ for a period 

6 is—

7 (A) the sum of the seasonally adjusted 

8 number of unemployed civilians in each State 

9 and the District of Columbia for the period, di10 vided by 

11 (B) the sum of the civilian labor force in 

12 each State and the District of Columbia for the 

13 period. 

14 (d) SCOPE OF APPLICATION.—The increases in the 

15 FMAP for a State under this section shall apply only for 

16 purposes of title XIX of the Social Security Act and shall 

17 not apply with respect to—

18 (1) disproportionate share hospital payments 

19 described in section 1923 of such Act; and 

20 (2) payments under titles IV and XXI of such 

21 Act. 

22 (e) STATE ELIGIBILITY.—A State is eligible for an 

23 increase in its FMAP under subsection (b) or (c) or an 

24 increase in a cap amount under subsection (f) only if the 

25 eligibility under its State plan under title XIX of the So-
5

•HR 816 IH 

1 cial Security Act (including any waiver under such title 

2 or under section 1115 of such Act) is no more restrictive 

3 than the eligibility under such plan (or waiver) as in effect 

4 on September 30, 2003. 

5 (f) ONE-YEAR INCREASE IN CAP ON MEDICAID PAY6 MENTS TO TERRITORIES.—Notwithstanding any other 

7 provision of law, but subject to section (e), with respect 

8 to a covered calendar quarter, the amounts otherwise de9 termined for Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, the 

10 Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa under 

11 subsections (f) and (g)(2) of section 1108 of the Social 

12 Security Act (42 U.S.C 1308) shall each be increased by 

13 9 percent of such amounts. 

14 (g) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 

15 (1) COVERED CALENDAR QUARTER.—The term 

16 ‘‘covered calendar quarter’’ means the last two cal17 endar quarters of fiscal year 2003 and the first two 

18 calendar quarters of fiscal year 2004. 

19 (2) FMAP.—The term ‘‘FMAP’’ means the 

20 Federal medical assistance percentage, as defined in 

21 section 1905(b) of the Social Security Act (42 

22 U.S.C. 1396d(b)). 
6

•HR 816 IH 

1 (3) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ has the mean2 ing given such term for purposes of title XIX of the 

3 Social Security Act.

Æ