Thirty five of the 50 states got more economic stimulus funding to help them with their Medicaid budgets than they should have, according to the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS-IG).

Approximately 90 percent of all federal formula-based aid to the states goes for Medicaid spending, which means even a slight increase in the amount of Medicaid aid from Washington to the states can make a significant difference in the fiscal burden placed on a jurisdiction. So to help cash-strapped state governments during the Great Recession of 2008, the Obama administration included a temporary increase in the percentage of Medicaid funding sent to state governments for the last quarter of that year.