The Alliance For Health Reform: Suggest an Edit

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FAMILY CAREGIVER - Spouses, daughters and daughters-in-law, sons and other relatives and friends who volunteer to help with personal care, medication management and a range of household and financial matters. Sometimes referred to as "informal caregivers," they provide long-term care worth an estimated $77 billion each year.

FEDERAL EMPLOYEES HEALTH BENEFITS PROGRAM (FEHBP) - Health care plans offered to federal civilian employees who can annually choose among a number of approved, community-rated private health insurance plans. The federal government pays a major portion of the cost of the coverage. Click here for more information, including eligibility requirements and premiums for each health plan --in total and amounts paidon the employee's behalf.

FEDERAL MEDICAL ASSISTANCE PERCENTAGE (FMAP) - Percentage used to determine the amount of federal matching funds for state Medicaid expenditures. By law, FMAP cannot be less than 50 percent or exceed 80 percent. Slightly higher Enhanced Federal Medical Assistance Percentages are used to determine matching payments for CHIP (see glossary). These payments cannot exceed 85 percent of the state's CHIP expenditures. Click here for more information.

FEDERAL POVERTY GUIDELINES - Income amounts set each February by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services used to determine an individual's or family's eligibility for various public programs, including Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Sometimes called Federal Poverty Level/Line (FPL). (The poverty guidelines are different from the U.S. Census Bureau's "poverty thresholds," which are used for Census statistical purposes.) Click here for the 2009 poverty guidelines.

FEDERALLY QUALIFIED HEALTH CENTER (FQHC) - Facilities that have been approved by the government for a program to provide low cost health care. They include community health centers, tribal health clinics, migrant health centers, rural health centers and health centers for the homeless.

FEE-FOR-SERVICE (FFS) - A method of paying health care providers a fee for each medical service rendered, rather than paying them salaries or capitated payments.

FIRST-DOLLAR COVERAGE - Insurance plans that provide benefits without first requiring payment of a deductible.

FIRST RESPONDERS - Firefighters, police officers, ambulance crews, doctors and other local emergency officials who are the first to respond to an emergency situation.

FISCAL INTERMEDIARY - A private contractor that pays hospital bills on behalf of Medicare.

FISCAL YEAR (FY)- The 12-month period used for calculating annual fiscal spending, which parallels the federal government's annual budget cycle. The U.S. government fiscal year runs from October 1 of the previous year to September 30 of the calendar year for which the fiscal year is numbered. States' fiscal years do not always correspond to the federal fiscal year.

FLEXIBLE SPENDING ACCOUNT/ARRANGEMENT (FSA) - An employee benefit program that enables the employee to set aside pre-tax money to be used for certain health care and dependent care expenses.

FORMULARY - A list of selected pharmaceuticals and their appropriate dosages created by health insurance plans, which are usually intended to include a broad array of prescription drugs that are also cost-effective for patient care. Physicians are often required or urged to prescribe from the formulary developed by the insurance plans, pharmacy benefit managers or health maintenance organizations with which they are affiliated.