Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Parsing The Policies: Is It Safe to Give Medicaid Work Requirements A Try? Are They Going To Backfire?
Bloomberg: Give Medicaid Work Rules A Try — Carefully
Requiring some Medicaid recipients to work is not the worst idea to come out of Donald Trump's administration. It might nudge some beneficiaries toward more productive lives, and it could help subdue persistent sentiment that the program allows adults who should be working to get free health insurance at taxpayers' expense. But these aspirations will not be realized unless there is strict oversight. (1/12)
The Washington Post: Trump Is Hoping You Won’t Notice His Backdoor Repeal Of Obamacare
One of the bigger, and more heartening, surprises of the past year was just how fervently it turned out Americans supported health care for low-income people. Republican politicians, after all, had been running against Obamacare — including its Medicaid expansion and income-based subsidies for buying insurance — from the moment the law passed. And the public appeared to back this agenda: The Affordable Care Act polled terribly. (Catherine Rampell, 1/15)
Los Angeles Times: 'Work Requirements' For Public Benefits Are Really Just Time Limits
David A. SuperOnce upon a time, everyone knew what a work requirement was. The agency administering a public benefit program would offer unpaid work to a recipient and reduce or terminate assistance if she or he refused to comply. Supporters extolled the requirements as character-building; critics worried about displacing regular employees and sometimes hazardous workplace conditions. Those days are long gone.Today, politicians — including in the Trump administration, which last week said it would allow states to tie Medicaid benefits to employment — use the term “work requirement” to hide the true nature of their proposals. (David A. Super, 1/15)
St. Louis Post Dispatch: Job Requirements For Medicaid Recipients Won't Work And Might Actually Backfire
The Trump administration last week approved the state of Kentucky’s request to require able-bodied adults who receive Medicaid benefits to work at least 20 hours a week. Nine other states have made similar requests. A bill that would add Missouri to the list is pending in the Legislature. It is an article of faith among many conservatives that federal safety net programs are abused by able-bodied Americans too lazy to work. In reality, that is rarely the case. (1/15)
