MACPAC March 2011 Report to the Congress on Medicaid and CHIP
March 2011
First inaugural report from the Medicaid Payment and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC), established in 2009 by the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act and expanded by the Affordable Care Act. The commission is headed by Diane Rowland, executive vice president of the Kaiser Family Foundation. According to the report, "the scope of the Commission’s work is broad, as Medicaid and CHIP together cover an estimated 76 million low-income people with diverse and often complex health conditions at a total federal and state cost of more than $400 billion in FY 2010. Of the 68 million persons covered by Medicaid, nearly half are children, but much of the program’s spending is for the health services for the more than 16 million seniors and individuals with disabilities and Medicaid coverage, including coverage of long-term care services. CHIP provides health care coverage for an additional 8 million children. In 2009 these two programs accounted for approximately 15 percent of U.S. health care spending. Given the size and scope of the Medicaid and CHIP programs, the Commission’s analysis and guidance to the Congress will fill an important analytic gap in the information available to the Congress on payment, access, data, and other related policies."
MACPAC March 2011 Report to the Congress on Medicaid and CHIP