The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has granted the state of Minnesota a waiver that will ensure 18,000 parents remain eligible for MinnesotaCare health insurance. The state will receive more than $100 million a year in federal funding through June 2011.
In August, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services changed its agreement with the state that would have resulted in a loss of more than $135 million in federal MinnesotaCare funding for three years.
With the waiver, which runs through June 30, 2011, health insurance for parents with incomes between 100 percent and 200 percent of the poverty level will be funded with federal Medicaid funds rather than with federal State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) funds. In exchange, the state will access SCHIP funding for some MinnesotaCare children under age 19.
Under other terms of the agreement, the state secured approval for federal matching funds for five years worth of nursing home pay increases that are already in place and will receive a higher amount of funding for graduate medical education than CMS originally proposed.