Proposed Implementation of Section 6053(b) of the Deficit Reduction Act for Fiscal Year 2008 FMAP, 3391-3395 [E7-1174]

Download as PDF 3391 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 16 / Thursday, January 25, 2007 / Notices Segment-reach Waterbody name 11140201 .............................................................................. First Old River Lake ............................................................. EPA requested the public to provide EPA with any significant data or information that might impact the 10 TMDLs at Federal Register Notice: Volume 71, Number 239, page 74907 (December 13, 2006). No comments were received. Dated: January 16, 2007. William K. Honker, Deputy Director, Water Quality Protection Division, EPA Region 6. [FR Doc. E7–1094 Filed 1–24–07; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6560–50–P DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Office of the Secretary Proposed Implementation of Section 6053(b) of the Deficit Reduction Act for Fiscal Year 2008 FMAP AGENCY: ACTION: Office of the Secretary, HHS. Notice with comment period. SUMMARY: This notice with comment period describes the procedure for implementing Section 6053(b) of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, Public Law 109–171 for fiscal year 2008. Section 6053(b) of the Deficit Reduction Act provides for a modification of the Federal Medical Assistance Percentages for any state which has a significant number of evacuees from Hurricane Katrina. Comment Date: To be assured consideration, comment must be received at the address provided below, no later than 5 p.m. on February 26, 2007. DATES: Because of staff and resource limitations, we can only accept comments by regular mail. You may mail written comments (one original and one copy) to the following address only: Department of Health and Human Services, Room 447D, Attention: FMAP Proposed Rule, 200 Independence Ave., SW., Washington, DC 20201. Submitting Comments: We welcome comments from the public on all issues set forth in this rule with comment period to assist us in fully considering issues and developing policies. Please provide a reference to the section on which you choose to comment. ycherry on PROD1PC64 with NOTICES ADDRESSES: SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: VerDate Aug<31>2005 14:58 Jan 24, 2007 Jkt 211001 A. Background: Federal Medical Assistance Percentages Federal Medical Assistance Percentages are used to determine the amount of Federal matching for state expenditures for assistance payments for certain social services such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Contingency Funds, matching funds for the Child Care and Development Fund, Title IV–E Foster Care Maintenance payments, Adoption Assistance payments, and state medical and medical insurance expenditures for Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Sections 1905(b) and 1101(a)(8)(B) of the Social Security Act require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to publish the Federal Medical Assistance Percentages each year. The Secretary is to calculate the percentages, using formulas in sections 1905(b) and 1101(a)(8)(B), from the Department of Commerce’s statistics of average income per person in each state and for the Nation as a whole. The percentages are within the upper and lower limits given in section 1905(b) of the Act. The percentages to be applied to the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands are specified in statute, and thus are not based on the statutory formula that determines the percentages for the 50 states. The ‘‘Federal Medical Assistance Percentages’’ are for Medicaid. Section 1905(b) of the Social Security Act specifies the formula for calculating Federal Medical Assistance Percentages as follows: ‘‘Federal medical assistance percentage’’ for any state shall be 100 per centum less the state percentage; and the state percentage shall be that percentage which bears the same ratio to 45 per centum as the square of the per capita income of such state bears to the square of the per capita income of the continental United States (including Alaska) and Hawaii; except that (1) the Federal medical assistance percentage shall in no case be less than 50 per centum or more than 83 per centum, (2) the Federal medical assistance percentage for Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa shall be 50 per centum. Section 4725 of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 amended section 1905(b) to provide that the Federal Medical PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 Pollutant Nutrient. Assistance Percentage for the District of Columbia for purposes of Title XIX and for the purposes of calculating the Enhanced Federal Medical Assistance Percentage under Title XXI shall be 70 percent. For the District of Columbia, we note under the table of Federal Medical Assistance Percentages the rate that applies in certain other programs calculated using the formula otherwise applicable, and the rate that applies in certain other programs pursuant to section 1118 of the Social Security Act. Section 2105(b) of the Social Security Act specifies the formula for calculating the Enhanced Federal Medical Assistance Percentages as follows: The ‘‘enhanced FMAP,’’ for a state for a fiscal year, is equal to the Federal medical assistance percentage (as defined in the first sentence of section 1905(b)) for the state increased by a number of percentage points equal to 30 percent of the number of percentage points by which (1) such Federal medical assistance percentage for the state, is less than (2) 100 percent; but in no case shall the enhanced FMAP for a state exceed 85 percent. The ‘‘Enhanced Federal Medical Assistance Percentages’’ are for use in the State Children’s Health Insurance Program under Title XXI, and in the Medicaid program for certain children for expenditures for medical assistance described in sections 1905(u)(2) and 1905(u)(3) of the Social Security Act. On November 30, 2006, at 71 FR 69209, we published the FMAP and Enhanced FMAP rates for each state for October 1, 2007 through September 30, 2008 (fiscal year 2008). This notice describes the procedure we would use to modify the fiscal year 2008 FMAP rates to comply with the requirements of section 6053(b) of the DRA, which we discuss more fully below. B. Section 6053(b) of the Deficit Reduction Act Section 6053(b) of the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) of 2005 requires that calculations used in computing the FMAPs disregard evacuees and any income attributable to them who were evacuated to and live in a state, other than their state of residence, as of October 1, 2005 as a result of Hurricane Katrina. The DRA defines ‘‘evacuee’’ as ‘‘an affected individual who has been displaced to another state’’ (Sec 6201(b)(3)). This provision applies to any state that the Secretary of HHS E:\FR\FM\25JAN1.SGM 25JAN1 ycherry on PROD1PC64 with NOTICES 3392 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 16 / Thursday, January 25, 2007 / Notices determines has a significant number of Katrina evacuees. The modification of the Federal Medical Assistance Percentages and the Enhanced Federal Medical Assistance Percentages under the Deficit Reduction Act affect only medical expenditure payments under Title XIX and expenditure payments for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program under Title XXI. The Department believes that the percentages in this rule do not apply to payments under Title IV of the Social Security Act. In addition, the Title XIX statute provides separately for Federal matching of administrative costs, which is not affected by the subject Deficit Reduction Act provision. Section 6053(b) applies to calculations for FMAPs for any year after 2006. The underlying data that serve as the basis for the FMAP calculations are produced by the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). Section 1101(a)(8)(B) requires FMAP calculations to be determined using data from the Department of Commerce. Therefore, the standard practice in the calculation of the FMAPs is to utilize the most up-to-date BEA state per capita income data. The Fiscal Year 2008 FMAPs, which were published on November 30, 2006 use the state per capita income estimates for 2003–2005. The first year that the relevant data— state per capita personal income estimates—would show any impact related to Hurricane Katrina is 2005, since Hurricane Katrina occurred in August 2005. Therefore, this rule proposes to implement Section 6053 (b) of the DRA starting with the Fiscal Year 2008 FMAPs, since the 2008 FMAP calculation will be the first year that include 2005 data. We believe the likely Congressional intent of this provision was to assist any state that took in a large number of Katrina evacuees. The statute instructs HHS to remove Katrina evacuees and their income from the FMAP calculation for any such state. This adjustment would protect such a state from an adverse fluctuation in its FMAP based on Katrina evacuees. This adjustment would also, however, remove any positive fluctuation in the FMAP based on Katrina evacuees. It is not clear that this latter impact was intended by Congress. We believe that, because Katrina evacuees are likely to have lower income than the general population of the states to which they are evacuated, accurate data would probably result in no adverse fluctuation in FMAP for any state using the standard calculation methodology. Instead, there would VerDate Aug<31>2005 14:58 Jan 24, 2007 Jkt 211001 probably be a positive fluctuation under the standard calculation that would be eliminated by the statutory adjustment. In other words, the statutory adjustment could result in that state having a higher per capita income (and lower FMAP) than if the adjustment was not made. In many instances, evacuees either had lower incomes before or lost their employment and means of support after Katrina. Evacuees’ per capita income, therefore, would be less than the per capita income of the general population of the state(s) to which they were evacuated. Eliminating persons of lower per capita income from any affected state would raise overall state per capita income, thus lowering its respective Federal FMAP percentage. Moreover, the standard methodology used by BEA to calculate per capita income does not permit the attribution of all income sources to Katrina evacuees. That is, BEA does not possess the data necessary to count all sources of Katrina evacuees’ income (see detailed discussion below), and as a result, we believe our approach offers the best possible calculation given the limited data available. We propose in this rule a methodology for the adjustment that would take advantage of the way in which state population is usually calculated to comply with our understanding of Congressional intent in the first year, and raise the FMAP slightly for any affected state. But we are concerned that this methodology would have the expected effect of lowering the FMAP in future years compared to the calculation methodology. We are also concerned that it will be more difficult to accurately disregard evacuee population and income in future years. It will also become increasingly difficult to isolate Katrina evacuees’ income to adjust per capita state income calculations as BEA only captures aggregate state income, not evacuees’ income. C. Calculation of the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage The Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) is based on the percentage of low-income persons residing in a given state. By statute, it is no lower than 50% and no higher than 83%. The key variable in calculating the FMAP is the estimate of state per capita personal income. The state per capita income estimates are then plugged into the statutory FMAP formula. There are two components to the state per capita personal income estimates. The denominator is the Annual Population Estimate; the numerator is State Personal Income. PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 1. Modification to Population Estimate The first adjustment that must take place under Section 6053(b) of the DRA is to the state population estimate. The state population estimate must be adjusted by removing all Katrina evacuees in each state that were evacuated across state lines. Because the state population estimates used in the 2005 Per Capita Personal Income estimates are from July 1, 2005, which is prior to Hurricane Katrina, these Katrina evacuees do not appear in the data that is the basis for the state population estimates for any state covered by this provision. Thus, while Section 6053(b) of the DRA requires it, no adjustment to this data is required to disregard Katrina evacuees. To ensure compliance with the statutory requirement to disregard Katrina evacuees, however, we explored the possibility of adjusting the population estimates to reflect the influx of evacuees, and then disregarding the actual number of Katrina evacuees. For this purpose, we used BEA estimates of the number of Katrina evacuees relocated to the various states based on FEMA data. We then used BEA’s estimates of Katrina evacuees relocated to each state to adjust upward the population of those states to account for the influx of evacuees. We then considered whether the influx of evacuees may have displaced other individuals from the population of the affected state(s), but we found no evidence to support an adjustment based on this possibility. Following the requirements of Section 6053(b), we then would subtract these evacuees from their respective states to arrive at a state population prior to the effects of Hurricane Katrina. The resulting calculations arrive at the July 1, 2005 population figures reported by the Bureau of the Census for the time period just prior to Hurricane Katrina. This analysis confirmed that no adjustment is required to the population estimate used in the calculation of the state per capita personal income for 2005 to disregard Katrina evacuees. 2. Modification to State Personal Income Estimate The second adjustment that must take place under Section 6053(b) of the DRA is to state personal income. State personal income must be adjusted by removing all income that is attributed to Katrina evacuees, and HHS has consulted with BEA at length on how to do so. According to standard BEA methodology, state personal income consists of the sum of wages and E:\FR\FM\25JAN1.SGM 25JAN1 ycherry on PROD1PC64 with NOTICES Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 16 / Thursday, January 25, 2007 / Notices salaries, supplements to wages and salaries, proprietor’s income, rental income, personal dividends, personal interest income, and transfer receipts less contributions for government social insurance. State personal income is the income that is received by, or on behalf of, all the persons living in a state. In addition, source data for wages and salaries, supplements to wages and salaries, and contributions for government social insurance (which are compiled on a place of work basis) are adjusted for persons who work in one state and live in another. BEA published these data in ‘‘State Personal Income for the Fourth Quarter of 2005 and Per Capita Income for 2005,’’ which appeared in the April 2006 Survey of Current Business, and subsequently revised in the October 2006 Survey of Current Business. In Table D of the April 2006 article, BEA gives the adjustments it made to account for some of the economic effects of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma that are not reflected in the source data used to estimate state personal income for 2005. We will use these data as the basis for making the adjustments to the FMAPs required by the Deficit Reduction Act. Implementing Section 6053(b) is complex because the data related to personal income are not detailed enough to fully conform to all of the provision’s requirements. For example, BEA cannot isolate the fraction of a state’s total wages and salaries that were paid to Katrina evacuees who moved there from another state. Therefore, HHS cannot remove income paid to Katrina evacuees for wages and salaries. Further, HHS can only estimate some of the ‘‘interstate income’’ attributable to Katrina evacuees. For purposes of this rule, interstate income is personal income that was paid to Katrina evacuees in a different state than the state they were living in before Hurricane Katrina. Included in our estimate of interstate income are governmental transfer receipts that were paid to evacuees who may have moved across state lines. Governmental transfer receipts consist of all transfer payments, such as TANF or Medicaid, as well as transfers from business, such as net insurance settlements. Transfers such as Medicare or Medicaid are government payments made directly or through intermediaries to vendors for the care provided to individuals. Below we discuss three types of transfer receipt adjustments included in Table D: FEMA disaster assistance, interstate population dispersal, and net insurance settlements. VerDate Aug<31>2005 14:58 Jan 24, 2007 Jkt 211001 a. FEMA Disaster Assistance FEMA disaster assistance is one type of transfer payment included in personal income. For FEMA disaster assistance, payments are recorded at the location where the recipients are residing at the time of payment. Therefore, if the evacuees receiving FEMA disaster assistance were evacuated to another state, the FEMA disaster assistance payment would be counted as income in the state that they were evacuated to. However, we can not know what proportion of the FEMA disaster assistance payments were made to interstate evacuees and what proportion were made to permanent residents of the states in question. For Texas, it is likely that the majority of the FEMA disaster assistance payments were made to interstate evacuees. For Alabama, the FEMA disaster assistance payments were likely made to both Alabama residents as well as interstate evacuees. Although we cannot determine the extent to which the FEMA disaster assistance payments represent income to interstate evacuees as opposed to permanent residents, we propose to include the entire FEMA disaster assistance adjustment in the estimate of interstate income. We make this decision because we believe it is best to include as much countable income of the evacuees as possible in order to comply with the intent of the statute, especially given that we can not count all sources of income for the evacuees. b. Interstate Population Dispersal The interstate population dispersal adjustment is BEA’s estimate of governmental transfer receipts that were paid to Hurricane Katrina evacuees while they were living in the states to which they had been evacuated. The transfer receipts included in the interstate population dispersal adjustment include payments such as Medicaid or TANF, as listed above. We propose to include the interstate population dispersal adjustment in our estimate of interstate income. According to Table D, some states gained income due to this adjustment and some states lost income. A positive interstate population dispersal adjustment, such as the adjustment for Alabama, means that the state was estimated to receive an increase in transfer income because evacuees moved into that state from another state, and received transfer payments in their new state. A negative interstate population dispersal adjustment, such as the adjustment for Louisiana, means that the state was estimated to receive PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 3393 a decrease in transfer income because evacuees moved out of that state to another state, and received transfer payments in their new state. BEA estimates these interstate population dispersal adjustments based on the evacuee population that moved across state lines after the hurricane, and the average transfer payment per evacuee. The evacuee population is based on the FEMA Current Location Report. c. Net Insurance Settlements Net insurance settlements are income derived from insurance payments made based on claims for lost or damaged property. For net insurance settlements, BEA records the payments as income in the state where the homes were destroyed. Therefore, even if an evacuee received an insurance payment in a different state from where their property was damaged, it would be recorded as income in the state where the damage occurred. If an individual was evacuated from Louisiana to Texas because his or her home was destroyed in the hurricane, and he or she received an insurance payment while living in Texas, BEA would record this payment as income in the State of Louisiana, not the State of Texas. Therefore, we propose not to include the net insurance settlements adjustment in our estimate of interstate income, because the income has already been re-allocated to the state where the evacuees lived before Hurricane Katrina. The methodology described above details the FMAP adjustments that were made to accommodate the requirements of Section 6053(b) with the available data. The calculations this year result in a positive impact on any affected state, i.e., increasing FMAPs. As noted above, it is unclear what effect Section 6053 (b) will have on future years should this provision carry forward beyond fiscal year 2008. It is possible that any affected state will receive lower FMAP rates when updated data become available. D. Affected States According to Section 6053(b), the Secretary of HHS must apply this provision to any state that the Secretary determines has a significant number of Katrina evacuees. However, the statute provides HHS no guidance on how to determine what number of evacuees constitutes a ‘‘significant number.’’ As a result, HHS attempted to provide an objective means to determine a ‘‘significant number’’ of evacuees. HHS has chosen to determine significance by calculating the numbers of evacuees beyond two standard E:\FR\FM\25JAN1.SGM 25JAN1 3394 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 16 / Thursday, January 25, 2007 / Notices deviations from the mean of all states’ number of evacuees. Measures of significance generally involve how observations vary in their distance from the average of all observations in their particular group. In this case, the observations are the number of evacuees relocated to each of the respective states. A measure used frequently to determine significance is the standard deviation from the mean or average. We propose to use as the measure of a significantly affected state those that incurred an influx of evacuees greater than twice the standard deviation from the mean of all states. Using the BEA estimates for the number of evacuees relocated to each state (except as noted below for Louisiana) we calculated an average influx of evacuees for all states of 7,159. The distribution of evacuees into all states around this average produces a standard deviation of 22,375. Therefore, we propose to apply the provisions of Section 6053(b) to any state with an influx of evacuees greater than 51,909 (the mean plus two standard deviations). This methodology specifies only Texas, with 154,018 evacuees, having such a significant influx of evacuees. Therefore, we propose to apply Section 6053(b) to Texas. Because the DRA defines ‘‘evacuee’’ as ‘‘an affected individual who has been displaced to another state’’ (section 6201 (b)(3)), we propose that Louisiana not be considered an affected state. Although there were intra-state evacuations within Louisiana, the provision is intended to apply only to any state that took in a significant number of evacuees from another state. BEA has made available on its Web site a version of Table D that includes adjustments for all states. The Web site address is: https://www.bea.gov/bea/ regional/articles.cfm?section=articles and the section is: State Personal Income: Fourth Quarter of 2005 and Per Capita Personal Income for 2005, Additional Tables. ycherry on PROD1PC64 with NOTICES E. Projected Effect of the Provision Using the personal income estimates released by BEA, we have calculated FMAPs for 2008 and the revised FMAPs applying the methodology outlined above. The table below presents the 2008 FMAPs and the revised 2008 FMAPs with the proposed adjustment, and the 2008 EFMAPs and the revised 2008 EFMAPs. VerDate Aug<31>2005 14:58 Jan 24, 2007 Jkt 211001 and become a functioning part of that state’s economy. (2) A second alternative approach is that individuals would be considered to FMAP ............ 60.53 60.56 be Hurricane Katrina evacuees while EFMAP ......... 72.37 72.39 receiving FEMA Hurricane Katrina assistance. FEMA assistance is an As seen in the tables above, applying available data source to identify the the proposed adjustment increases the individuals. Receipt of FEMA assistance FMAP and EFMAP for Texas. is an indication that individuals are not fully integrated into the economy of a F. Time Frame for the Adjustment new state, and expect to return to homes The language of Section 6053(b) does that were destroyed by Hurricane not provide for a sunset of the FMAP Katrina. adjustments. Therefore, the implication (3) The third alternative approach is that such adjustments would be made would be to consider individuals to be in perpetuity. Yet it seems unreasonable Hurricane Katrina evacuees while to assume that individuals who reliable data remains available and continue to reside in a state other than sufficient to identify evacuees and their those directly impacted by Katrina income in order to carry out the would still be considered evacuees provisions of the DRA. The statute does forever, even after they have established not authorize this Department to residency and obtained employment in construct or develop its own data their new state. sources. Thus, we do not believe that As previously mentioned, it is Congress intended to require this possible that this provision will have a adjustment to be made after reliable data negative impact on a qualifying state’s is no longer available to support the FMAP in future years. The magnitude of adjustment. this negative impact is not known at this We invite comments on the adoption time. for the definition of evacuee discussed Additionally, it is technically difficult above, or an alternate approach, to to perform the calculations for this ensure that the effect of section 6053(b) provision because of numerous data of the DRA is limited to addressing limitations. Even under the calculation sudden population influxes directly for FY 08, BEA was unable to resulting from Hurricane Katrina. completely account for all sources of G. Regulatory Impact Statement income for evacuees. It is likely that BEA will continue to encounter these Executive Order 12866 (as amended difficulties and produce limited income by Executive Order 13258, which estimates in the future. Furthermore, merely reassigns responsibility of BEA may also encounter difficulties in duties) directs agencies to assess all tracking evacuees, as it is uncertain costs and benefits of available regulatory alternatives and, if regulation is whether such data will be available. For the above reasons, we are necessary, to select regulatory proposing to define evacuees narrowly approaches that maximize net benefits to ensure that an adjustment is made (including potential economic, only to the extent warranted to address environmental, public health and safety the sudden influx directly resulting effects, distributive impacts, and from Hurricane Katrina, and not equity). The Regulatory Flexibility Act permanent changes in population level (RFA) requires agencies to analyze for host states. While we believe the options for regulatory relief of small most straightforward definition of an businesses. For purposes of the RFA, evacuee would be to consider small entities include small businesses, individuals to be evacuees fro a timenonprofit organizations, and limited period following displacement government agencies. Section 202 of the to another state, we have listed three Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 approaches to define evacuees, and are (Pub. L. 104–4) also requires that soliciting public comment on the issue. agencies assess anticipated costs and (1) The first alternative would benefits before issuing any rule whose establish a bright line test as to how mandates require spending in any one long an individual would be considered year of $100 million in 1995 dollars, an evacuee. Under this alternative, updated annually for inflation. That individuals would be considered to be threshold level is currently Hurricane Katrina evacuees for up to 18 approximately $120 million. Executive months following displacement to Order 13132 establishes certain another state. This represents a requirements that an agency must meet substantial time frame during which the when it promulgates a final rule that individual would likely have imposes substantial direct requirement established residency in another state costs on state and local governments, PO 00000 Texas Frm 00012 Calculated 2008 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 2008 with proposed adjustment E:\FR\FM\25JAN1.SGM 25JAN1 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 16 / Thursday, January 25, 2007 / Notices preempts state law, or otherwise has Federalism implications. This rule announces the provisions of section 6053(b) of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. We do not estimate this regulation will have any significant effect on the economy. Nevertheless, we estimate the impact of the provision, once implemented, to be minimal. Our analysis suggests that the modification to the FMAPs will only affect Texas. The effect will likely be a minimal decrease in State Medicaid and SCHIP spending and a corresponding minimal increase in federal Medicaid and SCHIP spending. In addition, the provisions only directly affect states. Therefore, there is no need to perform a regulatory flexibility analysis in accordance with section 603 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act. H. Summary We propose to adjust the fiscal year 2008 FMAP rate only for the State of Texas, by reducing the income estimates used in the FMAP calculation through the application of adjustments to reflect interstate population dispersal income and FEMA disaster assistance income for evacuees. Because this is the only income that can be attributed to Katrina evacuees based on BEA data, this income will be subtracted from the 2005 state personal income as published by BEA in October 2006 to obtain a new state personal income for Texas. This state personal income will be divided by the state population as of July 2005 to get a revised per capita personal income for each state. This revised 2005 per capita personal income will replace the 2005 per capita personal income in calculating the 2008 FMAPs. Effective Dates: The percentages listed will be effective for each of the four (4) quarter-year periods in the period beginning October 1, 2007 and ending September 30, 2008. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas Musco or Robert Stewart, Office of Health Policy, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Room 447D—Hubert H. Humphrey Building, 200 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20201, (202) 690– 6870. ycherry on PROD1PC64 with NOTICES (Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Program Nos. 93.778: Medical Assistance Program; 93.767: State Children’s Health Insurance Program) Dated: January 19, 2007. Michael O. Leavitt, Secretary of Health and Human Services. [FR Doc. E7–1174 Filed 1–24–07; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4210–31–P VerDate Aug<31>2005 14:58 Jan 24, 2007 Jkt 211001 DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Meeting of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Secretary, Office of Public Health and Science. ACTION: Notice. AGENCY: As stipulated by the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is hereby giving notice that the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) will hold a meeting. This meeting is open to the public. A description of the Council’s functions is included with this notice. DATES: February 27, 2007, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and February 28, 2007, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. ADDRESSES: Hubert H. Humphrey Building, 200 Independence Ave., SW., Room 705A, Washington, DC 20201. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dana Ceasar, Program Assistant, Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/ AIDS, Department of Health and Human Services, Hubert H. Humphrey Building, 200 Independence Avenue, SW., Room 733E, Washington, DC 20201; (202) 690–2470 or visit the Council’s Web site at https://www.pacha.gov. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: PACHA was established by Executive Order 12963, dated June 14, 1995, as amended by Executive Order 13009, dated June 14, 1996. The Council was established to provide advice, information, and recommendations to the Secretary regarding programs and policies intended to (a) promote effective prevention of HIV disease, (b) advance research on HIV and AIDS, and (c) promote quality services to persons living with HIV disease and AIDS. PACHA was established to serve solely as an advisory body to the Secretary of Health and Human Services. The Council is composed of not more than 21 members. Council membership is determined by the Secretary from individuals who are considered authorities with particular expertise in, or knowledge of, matters concerning HIV/AIDS. The agenda for this Council meeting includes the following topics: HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care issues, both domestically and internationally. Members of the public will have the opportunity to provide comments at the meeting. Public comment will be limited to three (3) minutes per speaker. Public attendance is limited to space available and pre-registration is required SUMMARY: PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 3395 for both attendance and public comment. Any individual who wishes to participate should register at https:// www.pacha.gov. Individuals who plan to attend and need special assistance, such as sign language interpretation or other reasonable accommodations, should indicate in the comment section when registering. Dated: January 16, 2007. Anand K. Parekh, Acting Executive Director, Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS. [FR Doc. E7–1125 Filed 1–24–07; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4150–43–P DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health; Report on Residual Radioactive and Beryllium Contamination at Atomic Weapons Employer Facilities and Beryllium Vendor Facilities National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). AGENCY: ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) gives notice as required by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005 (Pub. L. 108–375) of the release of a report on residual contamination of facilities under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (EEOICPA), 42 U.S.C. 7384 et seq. The report is below. The report and appendices are also available at: https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/ ocas. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Larry Elliott, Director, Office of Compensation Analysis and Support, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 4676 Columbia Parkway, MS C–46, Cincinnati, OH 45226, Telephone 513–533–6800 (this is not a toll-free number). Information requests can also be submitted by e-mail to OCAS@CDC.GOV. John Howard, Director, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Report on Residual Radioactive and Beryllium Contamination at Atomic Weapons Employer Facilities and Beryllium Vendor Facilities Prepared by: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health John Howard, M.D., Director, December 2006 E:\FR\FM\25JAN1.SGM 25JAN1

Agencies

[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 16 (Thursday, January 25, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3391-3395]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-1174]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Office of the Secretary


Proposed Implementation of Section 6053(b) of the Deficit 
Reduction Act for Fiscal Year 2008 FMAP

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, HHS.

ACTION: Notice with comment period.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: This notice with comment period describes the procedure for 
implementing Section 6053(b) of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, 
Public Law 109-171 for fiscal year 2008. Section 6053(b) of the Deficit 
Reduction Act provides for a modification of the Federal Medical 
Assistance Percentages for any state which has a significant number of 
evacuees from Hurricane Katrina.

DATES: Comment Date: To be assured consideration, comment must be 
received at the address provided below, no later than 5 p.m. on 
February 26, 2007.

ADDRESSES: Because of staff and resource limitations, we can only 
accept comments by regular mail. You may mail written comments (one 
original and one copy) to the following address only: Department of 
Health and Human Services, Room 447D, Attention: FMAP Proposed Rule, 
200 Independence Ave., SW., Washington, DC 20201.
    Submitting Comments: We welcome comments from the public on all 
issues set forth in this rule with comment period to assist us in fully 
considering issues and developing policies. Please provide a reference 
to the section on which you choose to comment.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A. Background: Federal Medical Assistance Percentages

    Federal Medical Assistance Percentages are used to determine the 
amount of Federal matching for state expenditures for assistance 
payments for certain social services such as Temporary Assistance for 
Needy Families (TANF) Contingency Funds, matching funds for the Child 
Care and Development Fund, Title IV-E Foster Care Maintenance payments, 
Adoption Assistance payments, and state medical and medical insurance 
expenditures for Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance 
Program (SCHIP).
    Sections 1905(b) and 1101(a)(8)(B) of the Social Security Act 
require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to publish the 
Federal Medical Assistance Percentages each year. The Secretary is to 
calculate the percentages, using formulas in sections 1905(b) and 
1101(a)(8)(B), from the Department of Commerce's statistics of average 
income per person in each state and for the Nation as a whole. The 
percentages are within the upper and lower limits given in section 
1905(b) of the Act. The percentages to be applied to the District of 
Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and 
the Northern Mariana Islands are specified in statute, and thus are not 
based on the statutory formula that determines the percentages for the 
50 states. The ``Federal Medical Assistance Percentages'' are for 
Medicaid.
    Section 1905(b) of the Social Security Act specifies the formula 
for calculating Federal Medical Assistance Percentages as follows:
    ``Federal medical assistance percentage'' for any state shall be 
100 per centum less the state percentage; and the state percentage 
shall be that percentage which bears the same ratio to 45 per centum as 
the square of the per capita income of such state bears to the square 
of the per capita income of the continental United States (including 
Alaska) and Hawaii; except that (1) the Federal medical assistance 
percentage shall in no case be less than 50 per centum or more than 83 
per centum, (2) the Federal medical assistance percentage for Puerto 
Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and 
American Samoa shall be 50 per centum.
    Section 4725 of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 amended section 
1905(b) to provide that the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage for 
the District of Columbia for purposes of Title XIX and for the purposes 
of calculating the Enhanced Federal Medical Assistance Percentage under 
Title XXI shall be 70 percent. For the District of Columbia, we note 
under the table of Federal Medical Assistance Percentages the rate that 
applies in certain other programs calculated using the formula 
otherwise applicable, and the rate that applies in certain other 
programs pursuant to section 1118 of the Social Security Act. Section 
2105(b) of the Social Security Act specifies the formula for 
calculating the Enhanced Federal Medical Assistance Percentages as 
follows:
    The ``enhanced FMAP,'' for a state for a fiscal year, is equal to 
the Federal medical assistance percentage (as defined in the first 
sentence of section 1905(b)) for the state increased by a number of 
percentage points equal to 30 percent of the number of percentage 
points by which (1) such Federal medical assistance percentage for the 
state, is less than (2) 100 percent; but in no case shall the enhanced 
FMAP for a state exceed 85 percent.
    The ``Enhanced Federal Medical Assistance Percentages'' are for use 
in the State Children's Health Insurance Program under Title XXI, and 
in the Medicaid program for certain children for expenditures for 
medical assistance described in sections 1905(u)(2) and 1905(u)(3) of 
the Social Security Act.
    On November 30, 2006, at 71 FR 69209, we published the FMAP and 
Enhanced FMAP rates for each state for October 1, 2007 through 
September 30, 2008 (fiscal year 2008). This notice describes the 
procedure we would use to modify the fiscal year 2008 FMAP rates to 
comply with the requirements of section 6053(b) of the DRA, which we 
discuss more fully below.

B. Section 6053(b) of the Deficit Reduction Act

    Section 6053(b) of the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) of 2005 requires 
that calculations used in computing the FMAPs disregard evacuees and 
any income attributable to them who were evacuated to and live in a 
state, other than their state of residence, as of October 1, 2005 as a 
result of Hurricane Katrina. The DRA defines ``evacuee'' as ``an 
affected individual who has been displaced to another state'' (Sec 
6201(b)(3)). This provision applies to any state that the Secretary of 
HHS

[[Page 3392]]

determines has a significant number of Katrina evacuees.
    The modification of the Federal Medical Assistance Percentages and 
the Enhanced Federal Medical Assistance Percentages under the Deficit 
Reduction Act affect only medical expenditure payments under Title XIX 
and expenditure payments for the State Children's Health Insurance 
Program under Title XXI. The Department believes that the percentages 
in this rule do not apply to payments under Title IV of the Social 
Security Act. In addition, the Title XIX statute provides separately 
for Federal matching of administrative costs, which is not affected by 
the subject Deficit Reduction Act provision.
    Section 6053(b) applies to calculations for FMAPs for any year 
after 2006. The underlying data that serve as the basis for the FMAP 
calculations are produced by the Department of Commerce's Bureau of 
Economic Analysis (BEA). Section 1101(a)(8)(B) requires FMAP 
calculations to be determined using data from the Department of 
Commerce. Therefore, the standard practice in the calculation of the 
FMAPs is to utilize the most up-to-date BEA state per capita income 
data. The Fiscal Year 2008 FMAPs, which were published on November 30, 
2006 use the state per capita income estimates for 2003-2005. The first 
year that the relevant data--state per capita personal income 
estimates--would show any impact related to Hurricane Katrina is 2005, 
since Hurricane Katrina occurred in August 2005. Therefore, this rule 
proposes to implement Section 6053 (b) of the DRA starting with the 
Fiscal Year 2008 FMAPs, since the 2008 FMAP calculation will be the 
first year that include 2005 data.
    We believe the likely Congressional intent of this provision was to 
assist any state that took in a large number of Katrina evacuees. The 
statute instructs HHS to remove Katrina evacuees and their income from 
the FMAP calculation for any such state. This adjustment would protect 
such a state from an adverse fluctuation in its FMAP based on Katrina 
evacuees. This adjustment would also, however, remove any positive 
fluctuation in the FMAP based on Katrina evacuees. It is not clear that 
this latter impact was intended by Congress.
    We believe that, because Katrina evacuees are likely to have lower 
income than the general population of the states to which they are 
evacuated, accurate data would probably result in no adverse 
fluctuation in FMAP for any state using the standard calculation 
methodology. Instead, there would probably be a positive fluctuation 
under the standard calculation that would be eliminated by the 
statutory adjustment. In other words, the statutory adjustment could 
result in that state having a higher per capita income (and lower FMAP) 
than if the adjustment was not made.
    In many instances, evacuees either had lower incomes before or lost 
their employment and means of support after Katrina. Evacuees' per 
capita income, therefore, would be less than the per capita income of 
the general population of the state(s) to which they were evacuated. 
Eliminating persons of lower per capita income from any affected state 
would raise overall state per capita income, thus lowering its 
respective Federal FMAP percentage.
    Moreover, the standard methodology used by BEA to calculate per 
capita income does not permit the attribution of all income sources to 
Katrina evacuees. That is, BEA does not possess the data necessary to 
count all sources of Katrina evacuees' income (see detailed discussion 
below), and as a result, we believe our approach offers the best 
possible calculation given the limited data available.
    We propose in this rule a methodology for the adjustment that would 
take advantage of the way in which state population is usually 
calculated to comply with our understanding of Congressional intent in 
the first year, and raise the FMAP slightly for any affected state. But 
we are concerned that this methodology would have the expected effect 
of lowering the FMAP in future years compared to the calculation 
methodology.
    We are also concerned that it will be more difficult to accurately 
disregard evacuee population and income in future years. It will also 
become increasingly difficult to isolate Katrina evacuees' income to 
adjust per capita state income calculations as BEA only captures 
aggregate state income, not evacuees' income.

C. Calculation of the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage

    The Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) is based on the 
percentage of low-income persons residing in a given state. By statute, 
it is no lower than 50% and no higher than 83%. The key variable in 
calculating the FMAP is the estimate of state per capita personal 
income. The state per capita income estimates are then plugged into the 
statutory FMAP formula. There are two components to the state per 
capita personal income estimates. The denominator is the Annual 
Population Estimate; the numerator is State Personal Income.

1. Modification to Population Estimate

    The first adjustment that must take place under Section 6053(b) of 
the DRA is to the state population estimate. The state population 
estimate must be adjusted by removing all Katrina evacuees in each 
state that were evacuated across state lines.
    Because the state population estimates used in the 2005 Per Capita 
Personal Income estimates are from July 1, 2005, which is prior to 
Hurricane Katrina, these Katrina evacuees do not appear in the data 
that is the basis for the state population estimates for any state 
covered by this provision. Thus, while Section 6053(b) of the DRA 
requires it, no adjustment to this data is required to disregard 
Katrina evacuees.
    To ensure compliance with the statutory requirement to disregard 
Katrina evacuees, however, we explored the possibility of adjusting the 
population estimates to reflect the influx of evacuees, and then 
disregarding the actual number of Katrina evacuees. For this purpose, 
we used BEA estimates of the number of Katrina evacuees relocated to 
the various states based on FEMA data. We then used BEA's estimates of 
Katrina evacuees relocated to each state to adjust upward the 
population of those states to account for the influx of evacuees. We 
then considered whether the influx of evacuees may have displaced other 
individuals from the population of the affected state(s), but we found 
no evidence to support an adjustment based on this possibility. 
Following the requirements of Section 6053(b), we then would subtract 
these evacuees from their respective states to arrive at a state 
population prior to the effects of Hurricane Katrina. The resulting 
calculations arrive at the July 1, 2005 population figures reported by 
the Bureau of the Census for the time period just prior to Hurricane 
Katrina. This analysis confirmed that no adjustment is required to the 
population estimate used in the calculation of the state per capita 
personal income for 2005 to disregard Katrina evacuees.

2. Modification to State Personal Income Estimate

    The second adjustment that must take place under Section 6053(b) of 
the DRA is to state personal income. State personal income must be 
adjusted by removing all income that is attributed to Katrina evacuees, 
and HHS has consulted with BEA at length on how to do so.
    According to standard BEA methodology, state personal income 
consists of the sum of wages and

[[Page 3393]]

salaries, supplements to wages and salaries, proprietor's income, 
rental income, personal dividends, personal interest income, and 
transfer receipts less contributions for government social insurance. 
State personal income is the income that is received by, or on behalf 
of, all the persons living in a state. In addition, source data for 
wages and salaries, supplements to wages and salaries, and 
contributions for government social insurance (which are compiled on a 
place of work basis) are adjusted for persons who work in one state and 
live in another.
    BEA published these data in ``State Personal Income for the Fourth 
Quarter of 2005 and Per Capita Income for 2005,'' which appeared in the 
April 2006 Survey of Current Business, and subsequently revised in the 
October 2006 Survey of Current Business. In Table D of the April 2006 
article, BEA gives the adjustments it made to account for some of the 
economic effects of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma that are not 
reflected in the source data used to estimate state personal income for 
2005. We will use these data as the basis for making the adjustments to 
the FMAPs required by the Deficit Reduction Act.
    Implementing Section 6053(b) is complex because the data related to 
personal income are not detailed enough to fully conform to all of the 
provision's requirements. For example, BEA cannot isolate the fraction 
of a state's total wages and salaries that were paid to Katrina 
evacuees who moved there from another state. Therefore, HHS cannot 
remove income paid to Katrina evacuees for wages and salaries.
    Further, HHS can only estimate some of the ``interstate income'' 
attributable to Katrina evacuees. For purposes of this rule, interstate 
income is personal income that was paid to Katrina evacuees in a 
different state than the state they were living in before Hurricane 
Katrina. Included in our estimate of interstate income are governmental 
transfer receipts that were paid to evacuees who may have moved across 
state lines. Governmental transfer receipts consist of all transfer 
payments, such as TANF or Medicaid, as well as transfers from business, 
such as net insurance settlements. Transfers such as Medicare or 
Medicaid are government payments made directly or through 
intermediaries to vendors for the care provided to individuals.
    Below we discuss three types of transfer receipt adjustments 
included in Table D: FEMA disaster assistance, interstate population 
dispersal, and net insurance settlements.
a. FEMA Disaster Assistance
    FEMA disaster assistance is one type of transfer payment included 
in personal income. For FEMA disaster assistance, payments are recorded 
at the location where the recipients are residing at the time of 
payment. Therefore, if the evacuees receiving FEMA disaster assistance 
were evacuated to another state, the FEMA disaster assistance payment 
would be counted as income in the state that they were evacuated to.
    However, we can not know what proportion of the FEMA disaster 
assistance payments were made to interstate evacuees and what 
proportion were made to permanent residents of the states in question. 
For Texas, it is likely that the majority of the FEMA disaster 
assistance payments were made to interstate evacuees. For Alabama, the 
FEMA disaster assistance payments were likely made to both Alabama 
residents as well as interstate evacuees.
    Although we cannot determine the extent to which the FEMA disaster 
assistance payments represent income to interstate evacuees as opposed 
to permanent residents, we propose to include the entire FEMA disaster 
assistance adjustment in the estimate of interstate income. We make 
this decision because we believe it is best to include as much 
countable income of the evacuees as possible in order to comply with 
the intent of the statute, especially given that we can not count all 
sources of income for the evacuees.
b. Interstate Population Dispersal
    The interstate population dispersal adjustment is BEA's estimate of 
governmental transfer receipts that were paid to Hurricane Katrina 
evacuees while they were living in the states to which they had been 
evacuated. The transfer receipts included in the interstate population 
dispersal adjustment include payments such as Medicaid or TANF, as 
listed above. We propose to include the interstate population dispersal 
adjustment in our estimate of interstate income.
    According to Table D, some states gained income due to this 
adjustment and some states lost income. A positive interstate 
population dispersal adjustment, such as the adjustment for Alabama, 
means that the state was estimated to receive an increase in transfer 
income because evacuees moved into that state from another state, and 
received transfer payments in their new state. A negative interstate 
population dispersal adjustment, such as the adjustment for Louisiana, 
means that the state was estimated to receive a decrease in transfer 
income because evacuees moved out of that state to another state, and 
received transfer payments in their new state.
    BEA estimates these interstate population dispersal adjustments 
based on the evacuee population that moved across state lines after the 
hurricane, and the average transfer payment per evacuee. The evacuee 
population is based on the FEMA Current Location Report.
c. Net Insurance Settlements
    Net insurance settlements are income derived from insurance 
payments made based on claims for lost or damaged property. For net 
insurance settlements, BEA records the payments as income in the state 
where the homes were destroyed.
    Therefore, even if an evacuee received an insurance payment in a 
different state from where their property was damaged, it would be 
recorded as income in the state where the damage occurred. If an 
individual was evacuated from Louisiana to Texas because his or her 
home was destroyed in the hurricane, and he or she received an 
insurance payment while living in Texas, BEA would record this payment 
as income in the State of Louisiana, not the State of Texas.
    Therefore, we propose not to include the net insurance settlements 
adjustment in our estimate of interstate income, because the income has 
already been re-allocated to the state where the evacuees lived before 
Hurricane Katrina.
    The methodology described above details the FMAP adjustments that 
were made to accommodate the requirements of Section 6053(b) with the 
available data. The calculations this year result in a positive impact 
on any affected state, i.e., increasing FMAPs. As noted above, it is 
unclear what effect Section 6053 (b) will have on future years should 
this provision carry forward beyond fiscal year 2008. It is possible 
that any affected state will receive lower FMAP rates when updated data 
become available.

D. Affected States

    According to Section 6053(b), the Secretary of HHS must apply this 
provision to any state that the Secretary determines has a significant 
number of Katrina evacuees. However, the statute provides HHS no 
guidance on how to determine what number of evacuees constitutes a 
``significant number.'' As a result, HHS attempted to provide an 
objective means to determine a ``significant number'' of evacuees.
    HHS has chosen to determine significance by calculating the numbers 
of evacuees beyond two standard

[[Page 3394]]

deviations from the mean of all states' number of evacuees. Measures of 
significance generally involve how observations vary in their distance 
from the average of all observations in their particular group. In this 
case, the observations are the number of evacuees relocated to each of 
the respective states. A measure used frequently to determine 
significance is the standard deviation from the mean or average. We 
propose to use as the measure of a significantly affected state those 
that incurred an influx of evacuees greater than twice the standard 
deviation from the mean of all states.
    Using the BEA estimates for the number of evacuees relocated to 
each state (except as noted below for Louisiana) we calculated an 
average influx of evacuees for all states of 7,159. The distribution of 
evacuees into all states around this average produces a standard 
deviation of 22,375. Therefore, we propose to apply the provisions of 
Section 6053(b) to any state with an influx of evacuees greater than 
51,909 (the mean plus two standard deviations). This methodology 
specifies only Texas, with 154,018 evacuees, having such a significant 
influx of evacuees.
    Therefore, we propose to apply Section 6053(b) to Texas. Because 
the DRA defines ``evacuee'' as ``an affected individual who has been 
displaced to another state'' (section 6201 (b)(3)), we propose that 
Louisiana not be considered an affected state. Although there were 
intra-state evacuations within Louisiana, the provision is intended to 
apply only to any state that took in a significant number of evacuees 
from another state.
    BEA has made available on its Web site a version of Table D that 
includes adjustments for all states. The Web site address is: https://
www.bea.gov/bea/regional/articles.cfm?section=articles and the section 
is: State Personal Income: Fourth Quarter of 2005 and Per Capita 
Personal Income for 2005, Additional Tables.

E. Projected Effect of the Provision

    Using the personal income estimates released by BEA, we have 
calculated FMAPs for 2008 and the revised FMAPs applying the 
methodology outlined above. The table below presents the 2008 FMAPs and 
the revised 2008 FMAPs with the proposed adjustment, and the 2008 
EFMAPs and the revised 2008 EFMAPs.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                              2008 with
                    Texas                      Calculated     proposed
                                                  2008       adjustment
------------------------------------------------------------------------
FMAP........................................         60.53         60.56
EFMAP.......................................         72.37         72.39
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    As seen in the tables above, applying the proposed adjustment 
increases the FMAP and EFMAP for Texas.

F. Time Frame for the Adjustment

    The language of Section 6053(b) does not provide for a sunset of 
the FMAP adjustments. Therefore, the implication is that such 
adjustments would be made in perpetuity. Yet it seems unreasonable to 
assume that individuals who continue to reside in a state other than 
those directly impacted by Katrina would still be considered evacuees 
forever, even after they have established residency and obtained 
employment in their new state.
    As previously mentioned, it is possible that this provision will 
have a negative impact on a qualifying state's FMAP in future years. 
The magnitude of this negative impact is not known at this time.
    Additionally, it is technically difficult to perform the 
calculations for this provision because of numerous data limitations. 
Even under the calculation for FY 08, BEA was unable to completely 
account for all sources of income for evacuees. It is likely that BEA 
will continue to encounter these difficulties and produce limited 
income estimates in the future. Furthermore, BEA may also encounter 
difficulties in tracking evacuees, as it is uncertain whether such data 
will be available.
    For the above reasons, we are proposing to define evacuees narrowly 
to ensure that an adjustment is made only to the extent warranted to 
address the sudden influx directly resulting from Hurricane Katrina, 
and not permanent changes in population level for host states. While we 
believe the most straightforward definition of an evacuee would be to 
consider individuals to be evacuees fro a time-limited period following 
displacement to another state, we have listed three approaches to 
define evacuees, and are soliciting public comment on the issue.
    (1) The first alternative would establish a bright line test as to 
how long an individual would be considered an evacuee. Under this 
alternative, individuals would be considered to be Hurricane Katrina 
evacuees for up to 18 months following displacement to another state. 
This represents a substantial time frame during which the individual 
would likely have established residency in another state and become a 
functioning part of that state's economy.
    (2) A second alternative approach is that individuals would be 
considered to be Hurricane Katrina evacuees while receiving FEMA 
Hurricane Katrina assistance. FEMA assistance is an available data 
source to identify the individuals. Receipt of FEMA assistance is an 
indication that individuals are not fully integrated into the economy 
of a new state, and expect to return to homes that were destroyed by 
Hurricane Katrina.
    (3) The third alternative approach would be to consider individuals 
to be Hurricane Katrina evacuees while reliable data remains available 
and sufficient to identify evacuees and their income in order to carry 
out the provisions of the DRA. The statute does not authorize this 
Department to construct or develop its own data sources. Thus, we do 
not believe that Congress intended to require this adjustment to be 
made after reliable data is no longer available to support the 
adjustment.
    We invite comments on the adoption for the definition of evacuee 
discussed above, or an alternate approach, to ensure that the effect of 
section 6053(b) of the DRA is limited to addressing sudden population 
influxes directly resulting from Hurricane Katrina.

G. Regulatory Impact Statement

    Executive Order 12866 (as amended by Executive Order 13258, which 
merely reassigns responsibility of duties) directs agencies to assess 
all costs and benefits of available regulatory alternatives and, if 
regulation is necessary, to select regulatory approaches that maximize 
net benefits (including potential economic, environmental, public 
health and safety effects, distributive impacts, and equity). The 
Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) requires agencies to analyze options 
for regulatory relief of small businesses. For purposes of the RFA, 
small entities include small businesses, nonprofit organizations, and 
government agencies. Section 202 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 
1995 (Pub. L. 104-4) also requires that agencies assess anticipated 
costs and benefits before issuing any rule whose mandates require 
spending in any one year of $100 million in 1995 dollars, updated 
annually for inflation. That threshold level is currently approximately 
$120 million. Executive Order 13132 establishes certain requirements 
that an agency must meet when it promulgates a final rule that imposes 
substantial direct requirement costs on state and local governments,

[[Page 3395]]

preempts state law, or otherwise has Federalism implications.
    This rule announces the provisions of section 6053(b) of the 
Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. We do not estimate this regulation will 
have any significant effect on the economy. Nevertheless, we estimate 
the impact of the provision, once implemented, to be minimal. Our 
analysis suggests that the modification to the FMAPs will only affect 
Texas. The effect will likely be a minimal decrease in State Medicaid 
and SCHIP spending and a corresponding minimal increase in federal 
Medicaid and SCHIP spending.
    In addition, the provisions only directly affect states. Therefore, 
there is no need to perform a regulatory flexibility analysis in 
accordance with section 603 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act.

H. Summary

    We propose to adjust the fiscal year 2008 FMAP rate only for the 
State of Texas, by reducing the income estimates used in the FMAP 
calculation through the application of adjustments to reflect 
interstate population dispersal income and FEMA disaster assistance 
income for evacuees. Because this is the only income that can be 
attributed to Katrina evacuees based on BEA data, this income will be 
subtracted from the 2005 state personal income as published by BEA in 
October 2006 to obtain a new state personal income for Texas. This 
state personal income will be divided by the state population as of 
July 2005 to get a revised per capita personal income for each state. 
This revised 2005 per capita personal income will replace the 2005 per 
capita personal income in calculating the 2008 FMAPs.
    Effective Dates: The percentages listed will be effective for each 
of the four (4) quarter-year periods in the period beginning October 1, 
2007 and ending September 30, 2008.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas Musco or Robert Stewart, Office 
of Health Policy, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and 
Evaluation, Room 447D--Hubert H. Humphrey Building, 200 Independence 
Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20201, (202) 690-6870.

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Program Nos. 93.778: Medical 
Assistance Program; 93.767: State Children's Health Insurance 
Program)

    Dated: January 19, 2007.
Michael O. Leavitt,
Secretary of Health and Human Services.
 [FR Doc. E7-1174 Filed 1-24-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-31-P
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.