The Secretary of Health and Human Services is not accepting a recent federal court ruling as the final word on Medicaid work requirements.
Although the court ruled against a federally approved plan to permit the state of Kentucky to implement a work requirement for some able-bodied Medicaid recipients, HHS Secretary Alex Azar insists that his department will continue to support work requirements for Medicaid beneficiaries.
Azar told a Heritage Foundation audience that
We suffered one blow in district court in litigation, but we are undeterred. We’re proceeding forward…We’re fully committed to work requirements and community participation in the Medicaid program…we will continue to litigate, we will continue to approve plans, we will continue to work with states. We are moving forward.
Learn more about the ruling against Kentucky’s Medicaid work requirement, which was approved by HHS, and the federal government’s determination to enable states to impose such requirements in this Washington Post article.