Reps. John Dingell (D-Mich.) and Tim Murphy (R-Pa.) introduced the bipartisan "Protecting the Medicaid Safety Net Act of 2008" (H.R. 5613) to impose a one-year moratorium on Medicaid regulations recently issued by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The proposed regulations issued by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) would adversely affect Medicaid beneficiaries and the medical institutions that serve them. Specific regulations include:

• Shifting additional federal Medicaid costs onto states and localities; and
• Cutting Medicaid payments to schools.

We are especially concerned about how these regulations would affect public schools across the nation. As currently drafted, the one regulation would reduce Medicaid reimbursement to schools by an estimated $3.6 billion over five years. This would have a chilling effect on school budgets by denying schools reimbursement for providing required services for special education students and low-income students who are eligible to receive Medicaid and participate in the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.