Hawaii gets stimulus relief: $16.6 million for Medicaid

The federal government has offered Hawaii $16.6 million in stimulus relief to help cover the costs of prescription drugs for residents eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Feb. 18 that the temporary boost is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

The funding comes in the form of an increase in the federal medical assistance percentage payments or, FMAP, given to Hawaii and other states, which lowers the total amount that states must pay the federal government in so-called claw-back payments meant to help cover the costs of their Medicaid Part D prescription drug program for low-income seniors. States and the federal government, which adds matching dollars, jointly fund Medicaid.

Hawaii would have owed the federal government $60,409,856 in claw-back payments, federal officials said, but under the new formula that amount will be reduced to $43,814,638 for the period beginning Oct. 31, 2008, and ending Dec. 31, 2010.