Trump Administration Plan to Add Medicaid Work Requirement Stirs Fears

For this blog post I found an interesting one from the Kaiser Health News titled, “Trump Administration Plan to Add Medicaid Work Requirement Stirs Fears.” The article goes on to discuss how Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, announced how the federal government will implement work requirements for Medicaid enrollees. This is just the start of changes to come to Medicaid, others to follow include drug testing for enrollees and a time limit on the coverage. While there are many opposed to these changes Verma feels that it would work to improve overall change and hopefully “break the chains of generational poverty (Kaiser Health News).” This proposal isn’t that far off from other government programs such as food stamps.


While many oppose this proposal, I feel this could help control costs and offer greater care to all. There is a greater sense of achievement in working towards something rather than sitting back and taking what is given to you. While there is a large portion of Medicaid recipients that are sick, in school, or taking care of family members there should be a requirement for them to receive care. Many states have already proposed to have enrollees work or do community service as a requirement for enrollment. This proposal was shut down but I feel it’s a start to having work status be a requirement for enrollment of Medicaid. Not only would work be required for enrollment it would provide opportunities for those that are struggling to find a job. If states mandated for work status to be a requirement they would have to provide services for those people to find jobs.

Kaiser Health News Article 

Comments

  1. Mark BNovember 22, 2017 at 7:55 AM

    One of the problems with this is a large portion of the users of Medicaid are the elderly, who are dual eligibles. Many people residing in nursing homes have their expenses covered by Medicaid.

    ReplyDelete
  2. MelissaDecember 6, 2017 at 7:51 PM

    Professor Bonica is correct, there are many elderly patients that have their nursing home expenses paid for by Medicaid. Medicaid also covers many disabilities. I know the population of coverage is too large to be a case by case basis, but I also understand the government trying to keep costs down and prevent fraudulent usage. As with any political discussion, this will be interesting to see it through fruition.

    ReplyDelete

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