Federal and state policymakers are considering proposals that would, for the first time, condition Medicaid eligibility on meeting a work requirement. Signaling a potential policy shift in this area, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) under the Trump Administration released a March 2017 letter to state governors stating that it will use Section 11152 authority to approve provisions involving "training, employment, and independence." Medicaid work requirement proposals generally would require beneficiaries to verify their participation in approved activities, such as employment, job search, or job training programs, for a certain number of hours per week to receive health coverage. The proposals typically would exempt certain populations, but little detail is available to date about who would qualify for these exemptions, how the policies would be administered, and who would provide work support services. Having as many Medicaid enrollees in the workforce as possible is a worthy public goal, and in fact, many adults on Medicaid already are working. This issue brief considers the implications of conditioning Medicaid eligibility on satisfying a work requirement, drawing on state experience with TANF enrollees subject to a work requirement over the past two decades and data about work and the role of health coverage among Medicaid enrollees today.
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