District Receives Increase in Medicaid Funds Under Recovery Act
As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the District will receive additional federal matching funds to support the Medicaid program. Medicaid is a joint District-federal program that provides health care for low-income District of Columbia residents who meet certain program requirements. Medicaid provides comprehensive health care services to more than 150,000 District children and adults.
With increased federal matching funds, the District’s Department of Health Care Finance is protecting residents’ access to health care services despite a challenging economic climate. Recovery Act funds are helping to:
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Fund anticipated growth in Medicaid enrollment resulting from the economic downturn;
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Maintain the District’s Medicaid eligibility levels;
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Prevent any increases to beneficiary cost sharing (such higher copayments);
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Retain current program benefits, including recent benefit expansions such as adult dental coverage and court ordered mental health evaluations; and
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Continue planned rate increases to providers that help ensure Medicaid beneficiaries have access to a wide range of high-quality health professional.
Under the Recovery Act, the District also will receive an additional Disproportionate Share Hospital allotment of approximately $1.5 million. With these funds, some District residents currently receiving health benefits through the District’s Alliance program (which is 100% funded with local dollars) will be able to be enrolled in the District Medicaid program, which provides more comprehensive health benefits.
The federal government matches District spending for Medicaid-eligible services according to a formula known as the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP).
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The Recovery Act provides eligible states with an increased FMAP, based on their unemployment rate, for 27 months between October 1, 2008, and December 31, 2010.
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As of March 27, 2009, the District had received $58.9 million in increased FMAP grant awards under this provision of the Recovery Act.
The District provides a wide range of services and benefits to help get people back on their feet. Stimulus funds will augment a number of these existing services.
Job Training
The federal stimulus bill (which is called the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act, or "ARRA") provides significant levels of new funding for job training activities for adults and young people, with an emphasis on preparing people for jobs in the "green" sector and other high-growth, high-demand industries like health care and information technology.
The District Department of Employment Services (DOES) has received more than $10 million dollars in ARRA funds and will use these funds to create and expand employment and training services for District residents in the areas of health care, broadband, and green jobs training, including weatherization, "smart meter" installation, and advanced green building. These resources will be distributed by DOES under federal Workforce Investment Act (WIA) and Wagner-Peyser formula funding systems, and will be managed in a manner that ensures full transparency, efficiency and accountability of performance and expenditures. Funds include providing job-readiness and meaningful work experiences for disconnected youth aged 14-24, training for dislocated workers, reemployment services, and senior aid. In addition, DOES will compete with other states for the billions of dollars reserved for ARRA’s competitive grants for high growth industries, YouthBuild, Work Opportunity Tax Credit, and Job Corps.
Learn more about current job training and placement programs at does.dc.gov.
Unemployment Benefits
The federal stimulus bill also continues the current extended unemployment benefits program (which provides up to 33 weeks of extended benefits) through the end of 2009, and increases the benefit level by $25 per week.
The Department of Employment Services is the District agency that administers Unemployment Insurance. More information about how to apply for unemployment benefits (including eligibility requirements, etc.) is available at does.dc.gov.
Select one of the sites below for more information on how to access nutrition assistance through the District government.
Keeping Your Health Care If You Lose Your JobWorkers who are laid-off can now get federal help paying for “COBRA” benefits, which are named for the federal “continuation of benefits” statute that allows employees to stay enrolled in their former employer’s health insurance programs if they pay the premiums. Under the new bill, the federal government will pay 65 percent of premium costs for up to nine months. More information about the program is available from the
US Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration.
A fact sheet* on how the program works in the District of Columbia is available.
*The District of Columbia government is not responsible for information on websites outside the DC.Gov portal. Inquiries should be made to the sponsoring organizations.
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