Letter From Democratic Senators Warns That Work Requirements For Medicaid May Not Be Legal

The Associated Press: Senate Dems Question Legality Of Trump Work Requirements
The Trump administration's new policy allowing state work requirements for Medicaid recipients is legally questionable, more than two dozen Democratic senators said Thursday, framing an argument likely to be aired in court. The senators' letter to acting health secretary Eric Hargan reads like a memo to legal groups preparing a court challenge on behalf of low-income Medicaid beneficiaries. Last week the administration unveiled its policy letting states to impose Medicaid work requirements, and promptly approved a waiver request by Kentucky to carry out its version. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 1/18)

CNN: Here's How States Are Trying To Overhaul Medicaid -- Without Congress
Mandating Medicaid recipients work in order to receive benefits is in the spotlight right now, but states are seeking to make a host of other changes to their programs. These include requiring enrollees to pay premiums, limiting the time they can receive benefits, testing them for drugs and locking them out if they fail to keep up with the paperwork. Many provisions would apply to working age, non-disabled adults who gained coverage under the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion. But several states also would require some who qualify under traditional Medicaid -- very low-income parents, mainly -- to meet these new rules. (Luhby, 1/18)

Denver Post: Wait List Of Adults With Severe Disabilities Who Need Services Is Growing In Colorado
It has been four years since the legislature ordered Colorado’s Medicaid department to create a plan to keep people with developmental disabilities from waiting months or even years for services. Yet the list of adults waiting for that help has only gotten longer, now at 2,915 people compared with 2,081 people in 2015, according to a legislative briefing Thursday. (Brown, 1/18)

Rhode Island Public Radio: Governor Proposes Cutting Medicaid Funding, Not Recipients
Governor Gina Raimondo has proposed cutting more than $70 million in state funding for Medicaid, the government health insurance for low-income residents, while preserving eligibility for the nearly one in three residents in the program. The proposed spending plan released Thursday would freeze hospitals’ Medicaid reimbursements rates and eliminate about $14 million in payments for hospital stays covered by Medicaid. The payments help offset the lower reimbursements hospitals receive for Medicaid patients. (Arditi, 1/18)

Providence Journal: Co-Pays Proposed As Part Of $166M In Medicaid Cuts
Changes to the state-funded health insurance program that covers more than 300,000 Rhode Islanders include instituting co-pays for the first time on some services to produce a savings to the state of $3.2 million, but state officials say none of the changes will affect eligibility or benefits. (Bogdan, 1/18)

Arizona Republic: Lawmakers Seek To Undo KidsCare Freeze They Imposed Two Years Ago
State lawmakers are working to reverse a decision that would freeze enrollment in KidsCare, a children's health-insurance program that currently serves nearly 25,000 Arizona kids. They took the first step Thursday, when the House Health Committee voted unanimously to lift the freeze that many of them approved just two years ago. (Pitzl, 1/18)

Alaska Public Media: State Senators Slam Additional Medicaid Costs
The rising cost of Medicaid to the state of Alaska has been the target of criticism during the first two days of state Senate Finance Committee hearings. The state added $100 million in additional Medicaid expense for this year, after the Legislature passed the budget. Eagle River Republican Sen. Anna MacKinnon criticized the extra Medicaid spending. This money was part of more than $170 million in supplemental spending added to the budget. (Kitchenman, 1/18)