View Rule

View EO 12866 Meetings Printer-Friendly Version     Download RIN Data in XML

HHS/CMS RIN: 0938-AV58 Publication ID: Spring 2025 
Title: Preserving Medicaid Funding for Vulnerable Populations – Closing a Health Care-Related Tax Loophole (CMS-2448)  
Abstract:

This proposed rule would update existing regulations to address a loophole in a regulatory statistical test applied to State proposals for Medicaid tax waivers. The test is designed to ensure, as required by statute, that non-uniform or non-broad based health care-related taxes, authorized under a waiver, are generally redistributive. Some States have exploited this loophole to establish tax schemes that generate significant State budget windfalls from Federal Medicaid funds, often without providing additional Medicaid services, increasing quality of care, or improving health outcomes. Nearly all of these existing loophole taxes are associated with managed care organizations, and have been increasing in recent years. The proposed updates would better implement the statutory requirements and strengthen the fiscal integrity of the Medicaid program by adding additional safeguards to ensure that tax waivers that exploit the loophole are not approvable. These changes, if finalized, would end current tax loophole schemes, resulting in significant savings to the federal government.

 
Agency: Department of Health and Human Services(HHS)  Priority: Economically Significant 
RIN Status: Previously published in the Unified Agenda Agenda Stage of Rulemaking: Proposed Rule Stage 
Major: Yes  Unfunded Mandates: No 
EO 14192 Designation: Other 
CFR Citation: 42 CFR 433   
Legal Authority: 42 U.S.C. 1396b   
Legal Deadline:  None
Timetable:
Action Date FR Cite
NPRM  05/15/2025  90 FR 20578   
NPRM Comment Period End  07/14/2025 
Regulatory Flexibility Analysis Required: No  Government Levels Affected: State 
Federalism: No 
Included in the Regulatory Plan: No 
RIN Data Printed in the FR: No 
Agency Contact:
Rory Howe
Director, Financial Management Group
Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services, MS: S3-14-28, 7500 Security Boulevard,
Baltimore, MD 21244
Phone:410 786-4878
Email: rory.howe@cms.hhs.gov