(A) There is created the Medicaid Expansion Fund into which must be deposited funds:

(1) collected pursuant to Section 44-6-146;

(2) collected pursuant to Section 12-23-810; and

(3) appropriated pursuant to subsection (B).

This fund must be separate and distinct from the general fund. These funds are supplementary and may not be used to replace general funds appropriated by the General Assembly or other funds used to support Medicaid. These funds and the programs specified in subsection (C) are exempt from any budgetary cuts, reductions, or eliminations caused by the lack of general fund revenues. Earnings on investments from this fund must remain part of the separate fund and must not be deposited in the general fund.

(B) The department shall estimate the amount of federal matching funds which will be spent in the State during the next fiscal year due to the changes in Medicaid authorized by subsection (C). Based on this estimate, the General Assembly shall appropriate to the Medicaid Expansion Fund state funds equal to the additional state revenue generated by the expenditure of these federal funds.

(C) Monies in the fund must be used to:

(1) provide Medicaid coverage to pregnant women and infants with family incomes above one hundred percent but below one hundred eighty-five percent of the federal poverty guidelines;

(2) provide Medicaid coverage to children aged one through six with family income below federal poverty guidelines;

(3) provide Medicaid coverage to aged and disabled persons with family income below federal poverty guidelines;

(4) [reserved];

(5) [reserved];

(6) [reserved];

(7) provide up to two hundred forty thousand dollars to reimburse the Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office and hospitals for the cost of collecting and reporting data pursuant to Section 44-6-170;

(8) [reserved].

(D) Any funds not expended for the purposes specified in subsection (C) during a given year are carried forward to the succeeding year for the same purposes.

HISTORY: 1989 Act No. 189, Part II, Section 35D; 1991 Act No. 105, Sections 4, 5; 1993 Act No. 130, Section 2; 1993 Act No. 181, Section 1051; 1998 Act No. 419, Part II, Section 41C.

Code Commissioner's Note

Pursuant to the directive to the Code Commissioner in 2018 Act No. 246, Section 10, "Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office" was substituted for all references to "Office of Research and Statistics of the Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office".