Prioritizing American Road and Jobs Act of 2015

Prioritizing American Road and Jobs Act of 2015

This bill amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to eliminate enhanced federal funding after 2016 for individuals who are newly eligible for Medicaid under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Under current law, a state is entitled to an increased federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP) to cover such individuals; this enhanced FMAP is equivalent to 100% through 2016, 95% in 2017, 94% in 2018, 93% in 2019, and 90% thereafter. The bill eliminates these enhanced funding levels so that, beginning in 2017, federal funding for expenses related to newly eligible individuals instead reverts to a state's regular FMAP (which, under current law, may range from 50% to 83%).

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) must estimate, for each calendar quarter beginning on or after January 1, 2017, the net quarterly reductions in federal expenditures resulting from this Act and adjust for a calendar quarter any initial estimate determined inaccurate. The adjusted estimate shall apply so as to adjust the amount appropriated to the Highway Trust Fund for the calendar quarter, subject to a specified limitation.

The amount equivalent to the HHS estimate reduction in federal Medicaid expenditures for a calendar quarter, but no more than a total of $15 billion in any year, is appropriated and transferred to the Highway Trust Fund from any funds in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated for that quarter.