Trump Administration Clears Way To Force Some Medicaid Enrollees To Work

The Trump administration is about to startletting states require many Medicaid recipients to work for their benefits.

The Trump administration told US states on Thursday they can for the first time move toward imposing work or job training requirements on people as a condition for obtaining health insurance under the Medicaid government program for the poor.

“The guidance was just released and we will assess accordingly as we do with any guidance, however the administration does not support applying work requirements to the MassHealth program”, said Baker spokesman Brendan C. Moss.

A large majority of Medicaid recipients, nearly two-thirds, are children, elderly or disabled, and will be exempt from the new requirements. The announcement has sparked outrage among health-care advocates and could mean some changes for the Ohio’s program. A study in December in JAMA Internal Medicine found that about half of the Medicaid recipients in MI were already working.

A study from the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation found almost 60% of working-age adults on Medicaid work either full time or part time, mostly for employers that don’t offer health insurance.

Liberal critics of work requirements argue that depictions of Medicaid as filled with able-bodied employable individuals who need a nudge to find a job is inaccurate.

NM Political Report asked a public information officer with the state Human Services Department if New Mexico will again seek to impose work requirements. More than a third of those 25 million Americans say they are ill or disabled, and 30 percent say they’re taking care of “home or family”. “Not working is not in their best interest, not for their health or family or their poverty status, it leads them to be more likely to be poor”.

“States … want more flexibility to engage their working-age, able-bodied citizens on Medicaid”, Verma told a gathering of state Medicaid directors in November.

The Trump administration early Thursday initiated a pivotal change in the Medicaid program, announcing that for the first time the federal government will allow states to test work requirements as a condition for coverage.

“Most people on Medicaid who can work, do so”, the coalition wrote, “and for people who face major obstacles to employment, harsh requirements won’t help them overcome them”.

It is not clear how many people will be affected by the new rules. The group believes work requirements would limit access to care and leave hospitals picking up the tab for uninsured patients.

“The majority of folks that receive Medicaid are working today”.

States may also use the waiver to line up their Medicaid work requirements with those already in existence for their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) – otherwise known as food stamps – and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs, Neale explained, adding that “the policy we put together will also include similar limitations and exclusions” as the ones found in those programs.

The historic move would be a significant change in how the government health insurance program operates and would fulfill a longtime Republican goal. Its justification: cutting insurance for low-income Americans who don’t work will improve their health.

States are also required to incorporate opioid and substance abuse treatment programming into 1115 demonstrations with flexible work requirements.

The latest Arizona numbers show 1.8 million Arizonans – one in every four state residents – now has health coverage through Medicaid.

American College of Physicians (ACP) president Jack Ende, MD, said the result of this new policy will be restricting Medicaid eligibility in a statement opposing work requirements.

This would be the first time in the 52-year history of the Medicaid program that there is any sort of work requirement.