Rep. Fred Upton, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, is asking for more information about how the Obama administration intends to handle future Medicaid funding provisions.
Upton, R-Mich., has sent a letter asking for more Medicaid funding details to U.S. Health and human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, the highest ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, also has signed the letter.
Hatch worked with the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., to create the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
CHIP provides health coverage for moderate-income children. Medicaid provides health coverage for people who are poor.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA) ties state Medicaid funding to state efforts to open their Medicaid programs to adults with incomes up to 133% of the federal poverty level.
When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled recently on challenges to the constitutionality of PPACA, it held that Congress had the authority to additional Medicaid funding to states’ actions on Medicaid but did not have the authority to reduce existing Medicaid funding to get states to cooperate.