New Trump Policy Will Allow States to Mandate Work Requirements for Medicaid Recipients
PoliticsThe Trump administration has made major headway toward allowing states to impose work requirements for Medicaid recipients, tying the two together for the first time in the program’s 52-year history.
A new policy guidance from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services says that states will be free to create programs that require Medicaid recipients to prove that they’re working, training for a job or volunteering—proof similar to what’s asked of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients.
CMS administrator Seema Verma painted the guidance as a helpful step to promote employment among able-bodied Americans, despite the fact that 60 percent of Medicaid’s non-elderly recipients already have jobs, according to a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Of those who do not work, more than a third are ill or disabled, 30 percent are caring for young children and 15 percent are in school.