Sources: American Academy of Family Physicians Washington, DC, Office and Health Policy Institute of Ohio
The Trump administration said on January 11 that it would allow states to impose work requirements in Medicaid (Source: “Trump Administration Says States May Impose Work Requirements for Medicaid,” New York Times, January 11, 2018).
In the announcement, federal officials said they would support state efforts to require able-bodied adults to work or participate in other “community engagement activities” as a condition of eligibility for Medicaid. Certain populations, including the elderly, disabled, pregnant women, and children, would be exempt from any work requirements, and include individuals currently enrolled in higher education or job training programs
Ten states (AR, AZ, IN, KS, KY, ME, NH, NC, UT, and WI) have submitted plans to add a work requirement to their Medicaid programs, which the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is expected to approve. This is the first time since the program’s founding in 1965 that enrollment in Medicaid would be contingent on an individual’s employment status. Several other states are considering work requirements.
Ohio’s General Assembly has repeatedly required the Department of Medicaid to submit waiver requests for work requirements. The first waiver, the Healthy Ohio waiver, was submitted in 2016 and rejected by the Obama Administration. House Bill 49, Ohio’s most recent biennial budget bill, required the department to submit a waiver to create an additional work requirement for people eligible under the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion to adults with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level.