The federal government approved a request from Ohio to require Medicaid expansion enrollees to prove they’ve worked 20 hours a week to receive health care, the state announced Friday afternoon.
Lt. Gov. Jon Husted said in an interview Friday afternoon that there isn’t a specific timeframe yet for when Medicaid expansion enrollees must begin demonstrating to the state that they’re working, going to school, or exempted from the requirement, since the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services just OK’d the state’s request, which is known in the federal government as a waiver.
Husted said the state will build a technology that Medicaid expansion enrollees will use to show they’re fulfilling the work requirement.
“We also want the same system to match you with a job and job training if that’s what you need,” he said.
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If people aren’t working 20 hours a week, they need to show they’re engaged in other activities, including a job search, education, job training or community service.
There are exceptions to the work requirement:
- People age 50 and older
- People who are caregivers
- Individuals with chronic conditions
- People who qualify for other programs – specifically the for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Able-bodied Adults without Dependents (ABAWD) programs.
The federal government notes Ohio is the ninth state to receive approval to require Medicaid enrollees work. The administration of President Donald Trump has been more receptive to the idea than that of former President Barack Obama.
According to the Ohio Department of Medicaid, 58 percent of expansion enrollees already work, but they are low-wage jobs that don’t offer health care.
As of November, 2.8 million people were enrolled in Medicaid. About 690,000 were part of the Medicaid expansion group.
Controversial
The work requirements are controversial.
Many critics predict people will get kicked off Medicaid for not complying with the eligibility requirement.
“With these new restrictions, tens of thousands of Ohioans stand to lose their health care, some when they need it the most,” said Rep. Emilia Sykes, the House Democratic leader from Akron. “We all want better lives and brighter futures for ourselves and our families, but restricting access to health care makes it harder for our state to live up to its full promise.”
“According to the State of Ohio’s own extensive, independently conducted research, Ohio’s Medicaid program enabled hundreds of thousands of Ohioans to get and stay healthy,” said John Corlett, executive director of Cleveland-based health care think tank the Center for Community Solutions.
Corlett, a former state Medicaid director, also is concerned that a drop in Medicaid rolls will hit safety-net hospitals, community health centers and community mental health centers that serve a large population of Medicaid patients.
Wendy Patton of the left-leaning Policy Matters Ohio estimates 318,000 people are at risk of losing their health care. They make up two groups,: People who don’t properly “dot their i’s and cross their t’s” when they’re trying to demonstrate they’ve worked, and people who are in low-wage jobs with unstable scheduling.
The result is people could constantly be on and off Medicaid.
“What this means is inconsistent health coverage, which is very dangerous for people with chronic health conditions,” Patton said.
Defenders of work requirements
The right-leaning Buckeye Institute’s Rea S. Hederman Jr. has a brighter outlook for Medicaid work requirements.
“Today’s announcement is good news for Ohio and Ohioans, and is an important step in reforming the state’s health care system,” he said. “The Buckeye Institute’s research shows that with these work requirements many Ohioans will see higher earnings over their lifetimes and they will gain valuable work experience by remaining connected to the workforce.”
Hederman added that the state needs to develop an easy-to-use system, ensuring that no one deserving of services gets kicked off because of an overly cumbersome process.
The Republican supermajority in the Ohio legislature added a provision about 18 months ago in a budget bill that Ohio Medicaid needed to implement work requirements.
Husted, who is also a Republican, said that the ultimate goal of work requirements is to give people a pathway to better lives.
“We want for everybody is to live up to their God-given potential and to live secure, independent and free,” he said. “…We want to help people achieve that. Both for their sake and for the taxpayers of Ohio.”
Husted said the system that’s going to be built will do that.
“You can’t say you can have access to Medicaid coverage free of charge for the rest of your life without doing anything in return,” he said. “You have to have the work requirement in there to force the process to begin.”
Date: March 20, 2019
Source: Cleveland.com
