Medicaid work requirements

Medicaid Changes on the Agenda?

With a new administration 60 days from taking office and the same party to be controlling the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives, Medicaid changes are a common topic of conversation in Washington policy circles these days. One of the objectives of those conversations: reducing federal spending on Medicaid, which in federal fiscal year 2023 amounted to $860 billion. Among the means of reducing those expenditures that can be expected to be the subject of policy deliberations in the coming months are: Instituting Medicaid work requirements. Ending the supplemental federal Medicaid funding states receive for Medicaid enrollees covered under [...]

joe2024-11-19T16:26:24-05:00November 21, 2024|Affordable Care Act, Medicaid|

Medicaid Changes Coming?

In office only three months, it appears the new administration has its sights set on expanding Medicaid. According to the Washington Post, Medicaid expansion could be in the works in several areas, including: elimination of work requirements Medicaid expansion in more states extended coverage for women who give birth increased funding for home-based care easier enrollment processes increased coverage for recent immigrants and prisoners Learn more about possible Medicaid changes to come in the Washington Post article “Trump tried to shrink Medicaid. Here's how Biden will try to expand it."

iqtsupport2021-04-20T06:00:09-04:00April 20, 2021|Medicaid|

Medicaid Work Requirements on the Way Out?

Medicaid work requirements appear to be going away in the wake of the Supreme Court agreeing to a Biden administration request to postpone arguments in a case brought by the Trump administration seeking to reverse previous court rulings blocking implementation of such requirements. To date, 12 states have received federal approval to implement Medicaid work requirements although only one such effort, in Arkansas, ever got off the ground. All of the efforts eventually stalled in the face of legal challenges and administrative obstacles. Upon taking office, the Biden administration informed the 12 states that it was considering withdrawing their approvals [...]

iqtsupport2021-03-16T13:00:38-04:00March 16, 2021|Medicaid, Medicaid regulations|

Administration Continues Dismantling Medicaid Work Requirements

A week after announcing that it was withdrawing permission for states to implement approved Medicaid work requirements and would no longer entertain applications to introduce such programs, the Biden administration has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to cancel arguments next month on the legality of such requirements. As reported in SCOTUSblog, That argument is no longer necessary, Biden’s acting solicitor general, Elizabeth Prelogar, told the justices in a seven-page motion on Monday. The Biden administration has “preliminarily determined” that work requirements do not serve Medicaid’s goals, Prelogar wrote. Arkansas, one of the two states involved in the case, maintains that [...]

iqtsupport2021-02-24T06:00:14-05:00February 24, 2021|Medicaid|

Verma Addresses Medicaid Issues

Earlier this week, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator Seema Verma spoke at a conference of the National Association of Medicaid Directors. In addition to discussing a proposed regulation posted earlier in the day that would introduce changes in the regulation of state financing of their Medicaid programs, Verma also addressed: Medicaid demonstration programs Medicaid work requirements a shift toward value-based payments better coordination of care for the dually eligible (individuals serve by both Medicaid and Medicare) enrollment issues improvements in the efficiency of the federal Medicaid bureaucracy Read Verma’s complete remarks here.

iqtsupport2019-11-15T06:00:58-05:00November 15, 2019|Medicaid, Medicaid disproportionate share, Medicaid DSH, Medicaid DSH allotments, Medicaid upper-payment limit|

Verma Hints at More Medicaid Changes, Deregulation

Stay tuned for more Medicaid changes, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator Seema Verma told a Las Vegas health care gathering last week. CMS, she told her audience, will …soon outline new opportunities for states to flip the Medicaid paradigm and free themselves from federal micromanagement. While Verma offered few details, one idea clearly emerged: there will be more deregulation. She insisted, for example, that Medicaid work requirements are not dead. While such requirements have run into trouble in the courts in recent months, she explained that CMS is developing new implementation guidelines to address some of the challenges [...]

iqtsupport2019-10-31T06:00:04-04:00October 31, 2019|Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicaid, Medicaid regulations|

Bureaucratic Requirements May Be Driving Medicaid Enrollment Decline

State eligibility redetermination processes may be pushing down Medicaid enrollment nation-wide. Last year, national Medicaid enrollment fell 1.5 million, more than half of them children, and according to a new report from Families USA, much of that decline may be attributable to the challenging eligibility redetermination requirements imposed on Medicaid-eligible individuals by some states. Those requirements include a 98-page packet that Tennessee sends to individuals seeking to retain their Medicaid eligibility; Arkansas’ limit of 10 days to respond to requests for information to redetermine eligibility; and Missouri’s decision to discontinue using data from other public safety-net programs to redetermine eligibility. [...]

iqtsupport2019-04-30T06:00:02-04:00April 30, 2019|Medicaid|

Protections Overlooked as Medicaid Reforms are Implemented

In its eagerness to help states introduce changes in their Medicaid programs and reduce administrative burdens, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is ignoring regulatory requirements designed to understand and measure the impact of those changes on beneficiaries. According to an analysis by the Los Angeles Times, many states seeking to implement Medicaid work requirements have not projected how many of their beneficiaries would be affected by those requirements nor have they projected how many beneficiaries who are removed from the Medicaid rolls will gain employment after losing their Medicaid benefits. Both projections are required under Medicaid regulations adopted [...]

iqtsupport2019-02-15T06:00:51-05:00February 15, 2019|Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, MACPAC, Medicaid, Medicaid regulations|

MACPAC: Let’s “hit the pause button” on Medicaid Work Requirements

The non-partisan legislative branch agency that advises Congress and the administration on Medicaid issues will ask the administration to delay approving any more state Medicaid work requirements. That was the decision reached by the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission when it met last week. MACPAC warned that the work requirement currently being implemented in Arkansas, the first state to introduce such a requirement, is flawed and needs further work before moving forward. The agency also believes the federal government should increase its oversight of new Medicaid work requirements before additional states begin implementing similar, already-approved Medicaid work requirements. [...]

iqtsupport2018-10-30T06:00:17-04:00October 30, 2018|Medicaid, Medicaid regulations|

MACPAC Meets

The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission met for two days last week in Washington, D.C. The following is MACPAC’s own summary of the sessions. The October 2018 MACPAC meeting covered a range of front-line issues in Medicaid, leading off with an analysis of disproportionate share hospital (DSH) allotments on Thursday morning. Following the analysis, the Commission discussed options for March recommendations on how to structure DSH allotment reductions that are scheduled to begin in fiscal year 2020. The Commission later resumed the discussion it began in September on work and community engagement requirements, presenting new data from Arkansas [...]

iqtsupport2018-10-29T06:00:58-04:00October 29, 2018|Medicaid, Medicaid regulations|