Understanding Medicaid’s Federal-State Partnership

Many people don’t realize how Medicaid works — through a unique partnership between the federal government and state agencies to provide health care for nearly 80 million people nationwide. Particularly in a changing policy environment, understanding the foundations of this collaboration is critical to strengthen Medicaid programs and policies. This episode of the Medicaid Leadership Exchange podcast explores the benefits and challenges of this collaboration, as well as opportunities to leverage this unique partnership to better serve Medicaid members. The episode features perspectives from two Medicaid leaders who have worked in both state and federal agencies:

• Calder Lynch, vice president, Medicaid regional president, Humana; former director, Center for Medicaid & CHIP Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS); and former director, Nebraska Medicaid
• Drew Wilson, director, Division of Medicaid and Medical Assistance, Delaware Department of Health and Social Services and former health insurance specialist, CMS

The episode is hosted by Mark Larson, former Vermont Medicaid director and senior vice president, Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS), and Jami Snyder, former Arizona and Texas Medicaid director and president and CEO, JSN Strategies. The Medicaid Leadership Exchange podcast explores priority topics for Medicaid leaders. It is developed in partnership by NAMD and CHCS through support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.