CMS Chief Signals Willingness To Approve Work Requirements For States’ Medicaid Programs
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma criticized the previous administration's stance on requirements as "the soft bigotry of low expectations" and said "those days are over."
The New York Times:
Trump Administration Will Support Work Requirements For Medicaid
The Trump administration announced on Tuesday what it called “a new day for Medicaid,” telling state health officials that the federal government would be more receptive to work requirements and other conservative policy ideas to reshape the main government health program for low-income people. Seema Verma, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said the administration would approve proposals from states to require work or community engagement for people who want to receive Medicaid. (Pear, 11/7)
USA Today:
State Medicaid Programs Can Require Work, Will Get Rated On How Well They Improve Health
More states can require Medicaid recipients to work — or at least "volunteer" — in one of the new ways the Trump administration plans to "help them break the chains of poverty," the nation's chief Medicaid official said Tuesday. The Obama administration, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma said, had the "soft bigotry of low expectations" by refusing to allow states to tie Medicaid benefits to employment. (O'Donnell, 11/7)
The Washington Post:
States Will Be Allowed To Impose Medicaid Work Requirements, Top Federal Official Says
Seema Verma, who heads the Health and Human Services Department’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, did not spare criticisms of the Obama administration and called its opposition to work requirements “soft bigotry.” “Believing that community engagement requirements do not support the objectives of Medicaid is a tragic example of the soft bigotry of low expectations consistently espoused by the prior administration,” Verma said in a sweeping address to the National Association of Medicaid Directors. “Those days are over.” (Cunningham, 11/7)
In other news —
The New York Times:
Maine Voters Approve Medicaid Expansion, A Rebuke Of Gov. LePage
Voters in Maine approved a ballot measure on Tuesday to allow many more low-income residents to qualify for Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act, The Associated Press said. The vote was a rebuke of Gov. Paul LePage, a Republican who has repeatedly vetoed legislation to expand Medicaid. At least 80,000 additional Maine residents will become eligible for Medicaid as a result of the referendum. (Goodnough, 11/7)