The New Economic Recovery Law: Health Resources

The Children's Defense Fund has gathered useful materials from federal agencies, congressional sources, and advocacy and other organizations that can help you become familiar with the Recovery Act funding and program activities available in states and communities. The New Economic Recovery Law: Resources to Help Children and the Economy provides links to these materials. This section of the guide provides information and resources for health and will be updated frequently to provide the latest and most helpful resources.

Health

Departmental or Congressional Organizations

• Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has posted a number of useful resources. Several helpful items include:
  • Medicaid. The Recovery Act provides $87 billion over two years for an increase in the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) for states.  As of March 6, 2009, HHS made the first $15 billion of this funding available to states.  This website provides a state by state breakdown of these first grants.    
  • Community Health Center Grants. The Recovery Act provides $155 million for Community Health Center Grants.  This web page shows how these funds will be distributed to states, along with estimated numbers of patients served and projected jobs created.

Advocacy and Other Organizations

• Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
  • "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009: State-by-State Estimates of Key Provisions Affecting Low- and Moderate-Income Individuals." Provides a brief description of the temporary increase in the Medicaid Federal Medical Assistance Percentage and state-by-state estimates of the amount states will receive over a two year period. (See pp.2-3).
  • "Recovery Act Provides Much-Needed Targeted Medicaid Assistance to States" is a longer piece that describes the Medicaid FMAP increases in more detail. 
• Families USA
  • "Frequently Asked Questions about the Temporary Extra Medicaid Funding in the Economic Recovery Package." An easy-to-read explanation of how states can access the new Medicaid funds and how certain specific provisions work.
  • "Understanding COBRA and Mini-COBRA Premium Assistance." An extensive overview of Recovery Act funds for health care premium assistance to workers recently laid-off and a discussion of actions that states can take. The Recovery Act provides a 65 percent subsidy to help unemployed workers purchase their employer's COBRA coverage and will be available for up to nine months.
• State Coverage Initiatives (A program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation administered by AcademyHealth), "How States Can Build on New Federal Legislation that Subsidizes COBRA Coverage for Laid-off Workers."  This summary describes the new COBRA subsidies and includes a list of state actions to supplement the new funds for COBRA subsidies moving forward.