Modern Healthcare: CMS, States Face Difficult Choices on Medicaid Expansion, Work Requirements
Posted on April 01, 2019
A March 29 article from Modern Healthcare examined the policy decisions facing state and federal govenments surrounding Medicaid expansion and the status of Medicaid work requirement waivers in light of a federal judge’s decision vacating Medicaid work requirement waivers in Kentucky and Arkansas.
As reported in the piece, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in Washington, D.C., struck at a centerpiece of the administration’s health policy when he ruled that HHS Secretary Alex Azar exceeded his discretionary authority in approving waivers that could lead to tens of thousands of people losing Medicaid coverage. The secretary did not adequately consider the coverage impact, given that the objective of the Medicaid Act is to provide coverage, he wrote.
MHA Senior Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer Laura Appel discussed the association's focus on streamlining the work requirement reporting process to minimize coverage losses.
“We would have preferred not to have a work requirement,” said Appel, whose state is scheduled to start its mandate next January. “But it’s part of our statute, so we want to make it the best possible program and not jeopardize the coverage of 700,000 people in the Healthy Michigan program.”
Read the Article
Tags: Healthy Michigan Plan, Medicaid Work Requirements, Laura Appel
Posted in: MHA In The News