States Move to Implement Medicaid Work Requirements

Kansas Health Institute

In January 2018, the federal government officially signaled its willingness to approve the implementation of work requirements in the Medicaid program. As a result, states now have a new Medicaid eligibility option that previous administrations, both Republican and Democratic, were unwilling to approve. The option is based on Section 1115 of the Social Security Act, which gives the federal government authority to waive certain provisions of federal Medicaid law to allow states to undertake demonstration projects —such as work requirements—in their Medicaid programs, as long as the projects further program objectives.

A recent survey found that, of Kansas currently enrolled Medicaid or uninsured and presumably eligible for Medicaid if it were expanded, 49 percent said they were already working, another 34 percent had a disability that prevented them from working, and 17 percent were otherwise not working. Read full article.