Lump-Sum Medicaid Funding OK’d for Tennessee Despite Critiques

The Tennessee Medicaid program will be funded under a lump sum arrangement rather than by an amount that fluctuates in response to beneficiary needs under a proposal approved Friday by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

The block-grant plan marks a significant departure from the way states have traditionally funded Medicaid, a joint federal-state health insurance program for low-income people, and has been criticized by health-care advocates as an attack on Medicaid’s foundations.

CMS approved the 10-year plan under Section 1115 of the Social Security Act, which allows the Department of Health and Human Services to waive Medicaid requirements ...