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Work
Requirements Don’t Help People Get Work
The Healthy Ohio proposal was previously rejected by CMS and
work requirements do nothing to help with employment. The
work requirements passed by the General Assembly will cause
thousands of low-income Ohioans to lose critical, health
coverage.
Last week, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services
(CMS) issued a letter to State Medicaid Directors, informing
them that CMS will allow Medicaid eligibility to be based on
work status or “community engagement,” – unpaid
volunteer work. This is a radical and tragic shift in CMS
policy that violates federal law and is part of an
ideological agenda that is hostile to vulnerable people in
Ohio’s communities. The guidance is available here:-
www.medicaid.gov/federal-policy-guidance/downloads/smd18002.pdf
“Fewer people with health care coverage will hurt Ohio
communities that need healthy workers and a strong health
care system. It will make us a state with greater health
problems and disparities,” said Steve Wagner, Executive
Director of UHCAN Ohio.
Medicaid provides health coverage to millions of low-income
children, seniors, people with disabilities, and parents.
Several states are proposing to tie Medicaid eligibility to
employment for many adults. But cutting off Medicaid
coverage for people who can’t work or find a job won’t
improve their health or help them find or hold a job.
Contrary to CMS’ claims, research that links employment with
health status does not demonstrate that employment
causes improved health — it’s far likelier that healthy
people are simply more likely to have jobs than people in
poor health. In fact, the Ohio assessment of the expansion
population showed that having Medicaid makes it easier for
beneficiaries to find work.[1]
‘’If we want people to work, Ohio needs to provide stable
jobs and training to help people be successful at the jobs
available,’’ Wagner said. ‘’Ohio needs people who are
healthy and ready to work. Keeping people from healthcare,
makes them less healthy and less able to find work.”
The
Ohio
assessment
of Medicaid expansion found 43 percent of enrollees were
employed, and 75 percent of those not employed were looking
for work. A national review showed that only 13 percent of
adults covered by Medicaid’s expansion are able-bodied and
not working, in school, or seeking work. [2] Of that small
group, about 75 percent report they are not working in
order to care for family members and the rest report other
reasons, such as being laid off.
Moreover, work requirements in other programs have failed to
increase long-term employment, and some people who lose
benefits under work requirements fall deeper into poverty.
In contrast, Medicaid coverage supports work by giving
low-income people access to the care they need to find and
hold a job.
Community Catalyst released
a new
report
that shows work requirements in states that have not
expanded Medicaid are unworkable and would unfairly force
individuals into the state’s coverage gap, causing them to
lose health coverage. The report comes on the heels of
today’s announcement by the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid that they will allow states to apply for waivers to
institute work requirements for some Medicaid recipients.
Last year CMS rejected the Healthy Ohio program and stated
that it was “concerned that these premiums would undermine
access to coverage and the affordability of care, and do not
support the objectives of the Medicaid program.”[3] CMS also
concluded that the state’s proposal to exclude individuals
from coverage indefinitely until all arrears were paid
“would not support the objectives of the Medicaid program,
because it could lead to a substantial population without
access to affordable coverage.”
Like the Healthy Ohio program, work requirements would
create a bureaucratic mess and does nothing to help people
secure employment.
The impact on Medicaid enrollment and eligibility would
increase health disparities in Ohio. Whites make up the
majority of the Medicaid recipients in Ohio, but because of
race-based income inequality, a much larger percentage of
the non-white population must rely on Medicaid to access
healthcare. In 2014, 20 percent of people described as white
were on Medicaid, while 42 percent of people described as
black, 33 percent, of Hispanics and 38 percent of all other
were on Medicaid.[4] Any policy that negatively impacts the
population on Medicaid will inescapably harm a larger
percentage of Ohio’s communities of color.
UHCAN Ohio is a statewide non-partisan, non-profit
organization building the voice of consumers to achieve
quality, affordable, accessible health coverage for all
Ohioans.
www.uhcanohio.org
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