Kentucky Will Be the First State to Require Medicaid Recipients to Work
Kentucky will be the first state to require a number of its Medicaid enrollees to work in order to claim their benefits. As the first to secure federal approval for this policy, the state is now seen as a preview of what would turn out to be a nationwide experiment on work requirements for the health coverage program.
As the state announced on Thursday, June 28, certain Medicaid enrollees will now be required to maintain employment or at least participate in other job activities, as decided by the new guidelines for work requirement waivers as revealed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Once these new provisions are in place, many Medicaid recipients in Kentucky will be required to be employed for 80 hours a month, according to CNN Money.
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Aside from requiring recipients to work, Kentucky may also start charging its Medicaid enrollees around $1 to $15. These monthly premiums are to be determined by their income, and it could also mean that Medicaid members can have their benefits suspended should they fall behind on the payments.
The work requirement will officially take effect next month. By July, all working-age Medicaid enrollees deemed to be fit and able-bodied will be required to work to maintain their benefits.
Exceptions were provided for, as expected — those who are pregnant, considered medically ailing or can prove that they are full-time students or the main caregiver of household dependents could be exempted. Even then, an estimated 350,000 Medicaid enrollees in Kentucky are now expected to be covered by the new provision.
As of now, just half of them are employed or are otherwise holding job activities that will qualify them to keep on receiving their Medicaid benefits.
"There is dignity associated with earning the value of something you receive," Governor Matt Bevin said back in January when the new work requirements were first revealed to the public, adding that Kentucky residents will do better with "an opportunity not to be put into a dead-end entitlement trap, but rather be put on a path forward and upwards so they can do for themselves."
