Skip to main content

Medicaid work-clause bill offered

February 13, 2015

WASHINGTON -- States should be allowed to require working-age adults benefiting from Medicaid expansion to be employed, U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman said Thursday.

The freshman Republican from Hot Springs filed legislation late Wednesday that would allow states to create the requirements without getting a federal waiver, as they currently have to do. The bill has been referred to the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

The 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act allowed states to expand Medicaid to low-income, working-age adults under traditional Medicaid's rules, which don't allow states to require recipients to work. States can apply for a waiver to those Medicaid rules, but the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has not approved a waiver to add a work requirement, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Continue reading...

Issues:Health Care