On March 15, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Seema Verma announced approval of Ohio’s request to apply work requirements to eligibility for Ohio’s Medicaid program. Ohio joins Arkansas, Arizona, Indiana, Kentucky, New Hampshire, Michigan and Wisconsin in receiving waiver approval for work requirements. Several states are challenging the granting of waivers in court.
“With unemployment steady under 5%, there are great opportunities to connect adults on Medicaid with opportunities to improve their lives & health,” CMS Administrator Seema Verma tweeted. “I’m pleased to send @GovMikeDeWine the 9th approval of a community engagement waiver!”
Mandated for submission by the Ohio General Assembly, Ohio’s waiver request was submitted to the Trump administration in April 2018, and is expected to result in up to 36,000 Ohioans losing their Medicaid eligibility. According to the Ohio Department of Medicaid, 58% of expansion enrollees already work, but they are low-wage jobs that don’t offer health care.
The Ohio Academy of Family Physicains objected to the waiver’s approval. In 2018, OAFP then-president Don Mack, MD, submitted the following comments to CMS in behalf of the OAFP: “As primary care physicians serving on the front lines of patient care in Ohio, we know firsthand that approval of Ohio’s waiver application would be a devastating blow to progress made in providing health care coverage to Ohio’s Medicaid and other low-income populations. This waiver, if approved, reverses gains made when Medicaid was expanded and care was improved by transitioning services from expensive hospital emergency departments to less expensive outpatient settings and is a huge step backward in achieving the American Academy of Family Physicians’ long-standing goal of achieving health care coverage for all.”
The state is projecting implementation of the waiver in 2021.