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Five things to know about Medicaid work requirements | TheHill

posted onJanuary 16, 2018
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Article snippet: The Trump administration released landmark guidance this week aimed at allowing states to impose work requirements for Medicaid beneficiaries, a major shift in the design of the health insurance program for the poor and disabled.  Here are five things to know about work requirements. No state has ever done it before. Requiring work for benefits is a GOP policy staple, but until this week, no state has ever been able to get federal approval to impose work requirements on Medicaid beneficiaries. ObamaCare allowed states to expand Medicaid coverage to people earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level. While the Obama administration was willing to be fairly flexible in what policies they allowed in expansion states, so long as the state ended up expanding coverage, they drew the line at work requirements. From some of the earliest days of the administration, Trump administration officials signaled they were open to states imposing work requirements for “able-bodied” people on Medicaid. But it wasn’t until this week that it became official policy. On Friday, Kentucky became the first state to receive approval from the Trump administration to impose work requirements as part of a broader overhaul of the state’s Medicaid program. There are going to be lawsuits. Democrats are gearing up for a fight that’s expected to include lawsuits, arguing the administration is trying to undermine ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion on its own after Congress failed to repeal t... Link to the full article to read more

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