Trump Administration To Roll Out Guidelines On Medicaid Work Requirements

Ohhhhhhhh boy. Democrats are going to explode over this one.

According to this, the Trump administration is preparing to roll out guidelines which would allow states to implement Medicaid work requirements.

The Trump administration is preparing to release guidelines soon for requiring Medicaid recipients to work, according to sources familiar with the plans, a major shift in the 50-year-old program.

The guidelines will set the conditions for allowing states to add work requirements to their Medicaid programs for the first time, putting a conservative twist on the health insurance program for the poor.

I have absolutely NO problem with this. If you’re an able-bodied person, you should be required to work. The end.

The changes represent the vision of Seema Verma, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), who has long worked on conservative Medicaid changes.
In a speech in November hinting at the coming changes, Verma criticized ObamaCare for expanding Medicaid to “able-bodied” adults and said that group of people should be expected to work.

“Believing that community engagement requirements do not support or promote the objectives of Medicaid is a tragic example of the soft bigotry of low expectations consistently espoused by the prior administration,” Verma said. “Those days are over.”

If a state wants to do this, it would have to apply for a waiver through the federal government. My guess is, blue states won’t apply anyway.

The Obama administration always rejected state applications that included work requirements, but the new guidelines from the Trump administration would set conditions where those applications would be approved for the first time.

There are currently nine states applying to impose work requirements.

Democrats are already panicking. They’re convinced that this is a discriminatory thing that will ultimately cause people to…NOT TRY TO ENROLL IN MEDICAID. *gasp!*

Democrats argue the changes would result in people losing health coverage if they cannot meet the new requirements or simply if the new bureaucratic hurdles discourage people from enrolling. They say many Medicaid enrollees already work, and those that don’t often can’t because they are disabled or caring for family members or other reasons.

“If they put out guidance, that would be a watershed moment I think,” said Hannah Katch, senior policy analyst at the left-leaning Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. It would be a “fundamental change in the way that people are covered by Medicaid,” she added.

“States know better than the federal government how to address the unique needs of their people,” a CMS spokesperson wrote in an email Thursday. “That is why we support innovative efforts at the state level to enhance the lives of Medicaid recipients and help them achieve self-sufficiency.”

Libs are already planning lawsuits. Big shocker there.

Liberal groups are preparing to sue the administration over the changes, arguing that work requirements are not allowed under current law and would require congressional action. Waivers must promote the “objectives” of Medicaid to be approved under the law, and Democrats argue a change that could cause people to lose coverage fails that standard.

I'm very lucky that I have the ability to work, but not every disabled person can, through no fault of their own. Simply put, requiring people who need Medicaid to work or go without health insurance is going to kill people.https://t.co/oeIuUhDE4Y

— Dominick Evans (@dominickevans) January 5, 2018

Um, no. Requiring ABLE-BODIED people to work is not going to kill anyone. Get a grip.

@realDonaldTrump Who feeds you these relentlessly regressive ideas? You have the will to evil, but not the brains to work out how to cause the deepest pain to the most people. May you suffer pain equivalent to everything you're inflicting day by day on millions of people.

— Burt Shulman (@burtshulman) January 5, 2018

Ya hear that? He’s inflicting PAIN AND SUFFERING on people by giving states the green light to implement work requirements. THE HORROR.

Jut the tip of the attack on the poor . Give to the rich at the expense of the poor. Does any one else see a pattern here?

— william hewitt (@coachgramps6) January 5, 2018

Another outragous attack on the American people. Remember the words of @POTUS44 “don’t boo – vote”.

— Henrik Schou (@Hesc1007) January 5, 2018

Requiring able-bodied people who benefit from public assistance to work is an OUTRAGEOUS ATTACK.

The guidelines are expected to come out in the coming weeks.

I’m sick of our tax dollars supporting crappy lifestyles. If you’re able-bodied, WORK. Show a little effort.

I’m on board.

h/t The Hill