Issue Brief 10-10
March 29, 2010
Summary 

On March 21, 2010, the House approved the Senate-passed health care reform bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). That same day, the House passed the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010 (H.R. 4872), which includes changes to the Senate health care reform bill as negotiated by House and Senate leaders. The president signed PPACA (P.L. 111-148) on March 23, 2010. The Senate approved the compromise reconciliation package on March 25, 2010, with two modifications made to the bill that were unrelated to health care. As such, the House had to approve the revised version, which it did immediately.

The reconciliation bill maintains most of the Medicaid provisions included in PPACA. However, the bill would modify the federal financing provisions and temporarily increase Medicaid physician rates for primary care services. This Issue Brief provides an overview of the changes to Medicaid included in the reconciliation bill. Issue Brief 10-01 has detailed information on PPACA.