No car, no care? Medicaid transport program faces cuts in some states, By Jonel Aleccia, January 27, 2018, National Public Radio: “Unable to walk or talk, barely able to see or hear, 5-year-old Maddie Holt of Everett, Wash., waits in her wheelchair for a ride to the hospital. The 27-pound girl is dressed in polka-dot pants and a flowered shirt for the trip, plus a red headband with a sparkly bow, two wispy blond ponytails poking out on top of her head. Her parents can’t drive her. They both have disabling vision problems; and, besides, they can’t afford a car. When Maddie was born in 2012 with the rare and usually fatal genetic condition called Zellweger syndrome, Meagan and Brandon Holt, then in their early 20s, were plunged into a world of overwhelming need — and profound poverty…”
Month: January 2018
Medicaid Work Requirements
- Medicaid patients sue over Trump administration’s new work requirement policy, By Noam N. Levey, January 24, 2018, Los Angeles Times: “Kicking off what will likely be a long legal battle over the Trump administration’s push to reshape Medicaid, 15 low-income Kentucky residents sued the federal government Wednesday, challenging the recent move to allow states to impose work requirements on some Medicaid enrollees. The lawsuit — spearheaded by three public-interest legal groups — accuses the federal Department of Health and Human Services of violating the core purpose of the half-century-old government health plan for the poor by granting a request from Kentucky to impose the work mandate…”
- Kentucky’s new idea for Medicaid access: Pass health literacy course, By Austin Frakt, January 22, 2018, New York Times: “If you’re on Medicaid in Kentucky and are kicked off the rolls for failing to meet the state’s new work requirements, Kentucky will be offering a novel way to reactivate your medical coverage: a health or financial literacy course you must pass…”
- Work requirements may prompt more states to expand Medicaid, By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar (AP), January 23, 2018, Seattle Times: “In an ironic twist, the Trump administration’s embrace of work requirements for low-income people on Medicaid is prompting lawmakers in some conservative states to resurrect plans to expand health care for the poor. Trump’s move has been widely criticized as threatening the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion. But if states follow through, more Americans could get coverage…”
- Missouri is looking at work requirements for Medicaid, By Sky Chadde, January 26, 2017, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “Missouri appears headed toward requiring Medicaid recipients find jobs to receive their benefits. On Jan. 11, President Donald Trump’s administration announced it would allow states to implement work requirements for adults under the age of 65 on Medicaid who don’t have disabilities or who are pregnant. The next day, Kentucky was granted a waiver to its Medicaid program that allowed work requirements…”
States and Welfare Reform
- Where the work-for-welfare movement is heading, By Jen Fifield, January 25, 2018, Stateline: “As President Donald Trump and Republican leaders in Congress set out to impose tougher restrictions on welfare, their conservative allies across the country are trying to help them accomplish their mission, state by state. Republican governors and state legislators are moving ahead with proposals that would make it harder for people to get and keep welfare benefits and restrict what benefits they get. Measures already have been floated in about a dozen states, and, policy analysts say, what happens in states in the coming year will serve as an indicator of what’s to come nationally…”
- Report: Poor families struggling with Kansas welfare rules, By Madeline Fox, January 25, 2018, kcur.org: “Income that doesn’t come close to the poverty line. Persistent job insecurity. Shifting schedules and irregular hours. Cumbersome barriers to state assistance meant for the neediest Kansans. A new report from the left-leaning Center for Budget and Policy Priorities paints a stark picture of the Kansas welfare system. Analysts focused on two major changes to Kansas welfare eligibility rules enacted under Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration — work requirements and time limits…”
- Gov. Charlie Baker’s budget would let welfare recipients keep more benefits while working, By Shira Schoenberg, January 25, 2018, MassLive: “A proposal in Gov. Charlie Baker’s budget aims to help welfare recipients return to work by continuing to pay them benefits even after they start a new job. ‘We’re going to make it possible for people who work to be able to continue to do so past the point that they would have been able to historically,’ Baker said Wednesday…”