(Provided by Autism-society.org)
Legislation extends the Medicaid FMAP and sends aid to avoid teacher layoffs
After several unsuccessful attempts, the U.S. Senate passed the Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act by a vote of 61-39 on August 5. This legislation provides $16.1 billion to extend the Medicaid federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP) from January 1 to June 30, 2011. The bill also sends another $10 billion to school systems to avoid teacher layoffs before the new school year starts. The bill is fully paid for, but it reduces the amount of federal support for FMAP from the $24 billion that would have been available under previous versions of the extension.
Passage was finally secured in the Senate when the two Republican Senators from Maine, Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, voted in favor of the measure. A Medicaid FMAP increase of 3.2% will be in effect from January through March and then lowered to 1.2% from April through June. The bill must now be passed by the full House of Representatives before being sent to President Barack Obama for his signature.