Medicaid work requirements

Battle Over Medicaid Work Requirements Not Over

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 [...]

iqtsupport2018-08-01T06:00:24-04:00August 1, 2018|Medicaid|

Medicaid Changes: More Than Just Work Requirements Coming?

While the green light for state applications to impose work requirements on their Medicaid recipients is receiving all of the attention, the Trump administration has issued guidance that appears to pave the way for other major changes in the Medicaid program as well. Specifically, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has issued guidance that will enable states to pursue section 1115 waivers to test different ways of serving Medicaid patients that are otherwise not permitted under federal Medicaid law, including: establishing time limits on how many months or years individuals may be enrolled in Medicaid; locking out for a [...]

iqtsupport2018-02-09T06:00:25-05:00February 9, 2018|Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicaid, Medicaid regulations|

Medicaid in the Spotlight

State-option work requirements. A cap on federal spending. New flexibility for states to address eligibility, benefits, and provider payments. Rolling back the Affordable Care Act’s eligibility expansion. Medicaid is under the policy microscope in Washington these days in ways it has not been for many years as the new administration continues to work to put its stamp on the federal government’s major program to provide health care to low-income Americans. What are policy-makers considering and what are the potential implications of their efforts? Learn more in the new Health Affairs blog article “Medicaid Program Under Siege,” which can be found [...]

iqtsupport2018-01-24T06:00:13-05:00January 24, 2018|Affordable Care Act, Medicaid|

Administration Lays Groundwork for Medicaid Work Requirements

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has issued guidelines for states interested in adding a work requirement component to their Medicaid programs. With nearly a dozen states applying to implement controversial Medicaid work requirements, CMS has issued a guidance letter to state Medicaid directors outlining the criteria it will use when considering such applications. The new policy does not mandate work requirements in state Medicaid programs; it only presents the parameters CMS will use when considering the applications of states wishing to impose such requirements. For more information about the new policy, see the following resources: CMS’s news release [...]

iqtsupport2018-01-16T06:00:52-05:00January 16, 2018|Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicaid|

CMS Shares Vision for Medicaid

Medicaid is about to undergo major changes, CMS administrator Seema Verma outlined in a news release yesterday and in a speech to state Medicaid directors. According to the news release, those changes include: re-establishing a state-federal partnership that Verma believes has become too much federal and not enough state giving states greater freedom to innovate offering new guidelines for how states can align their individual programs with federal Medicaid objectives new guidance on section 1115 waivers longer section 1115 waivers with simpler review processes CMS willingness to consider proposals to impose work requirements on Medicaid beneficiaries Medicaid and CHIP “scorecards” [...]

iqtsupport2017-11-08T13:00:50-05:00November 8, 2017|Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicaid, Medicaid regulations|

Medicaid Work Requirements

Both Congress and a number of states have discussed introducing work requirements into their Medicaid programs. Such a proposal was part of the American Health Care Act, a number of governors and state legislators have discussed work requirements as a condition of Medicaid eligibility, and some states are reportedly considering including such requirements in section 1115 Medicaid waiver applications. In a new report, the Congressional Research Service examines the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ authority to grant such waivers and how courts might look at such requirements if they were be contested. Go here to see the Congressional [...]

iqtsupport2017-04-21T06:00:59-04:00April 21, 2017|Medicaid|

To Require Work or Not to Require Work

That is the question policy-makers are asking as they consider imposing work requirements on healthy Medicaid participants. In recent years a number of states have attempted to establish such a requirement, only to have their requests to do so rejected by regulators in Washington, and a clause permitting states to establish such a requirement was included last month in the eventually sidetracked American Health Care Act. Even now, a Kentucky Medicaid waiver application under consideration by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services includes a work requirement. Does the lack of a work requirement encourage people in Medicaid expansion states [...]

iqtsupport2017-04-03T06:00:50-04:00April 3, 2017|Medicaid|