Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata has cosponsored new bipartisan legislation, together with the representatives of the four affected territories, to remove Medicaid funding caps.
The Medicaid Improvement for Insular Areas Act of 2025 was sponsored by Rep. Kimberlyn King-Hinds (CNMI), with original cosponsors Rep. Aumua Amata (American Samoa), Rep. James Moylan (Guam), and Rep. Stacey Plaskett (USVI).
“Eliminating the Medicaid cap is something I have fought for over the years, along with improvements to our FMAP (Federal Medical Assistance Percentage), which we achieved, so cap elimination would be the next step in achieving equality for the territories with the states,” said Congresswoman Amata.
“This would be an immediate improvement for the territories that approach the cap or become capped out during a fiscal year, while for American Samoa, removing the cap would ensure that it will never become a future barrier,” Amata continued. “Most importantly, it is a fairness issue, as the states do not have a cap structure.”
Amata took part in the previous key bipartisan Medicaid reform that was a landmark change for the territories. It was passed in 2019, signed by President Trump, and took effect in 2020.
That historic change lifted the federal share for American Samoa to a national-best 83-17 percent federal-territory cost share—a major improvement from the previous longstanding 55-45 percent. That much smaller local match requirement allows American Samoa to stretch its Medicaid dollars 50 percent further as a result.
“With the reopening of our fishing grounds by President Trump on our 125th Flag Day, we hope to see resulting higher local revenues to ASG, which should allow us to spend more on Medicaid in the future,” the Congresswoman concluded. “Eliminating the cap will ensure we are not prohibited locally from providing as much Medicaid service as needed.”
