US gives states another 6 months before they have to remove people from Medicaid for not working

详细摘要

President Donald Trump's administration is giving states another six months before they must remove beneficiaries from Medicaid rolls for failing to meet new work requirements

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President Donald Trump's administration told states Friday that they won't have to remove people from Medicaid for failing to meet a work requirement until July.

The requirement is scheduled to take effect nationally on Jan. 1, and states have been scrambling to put in place the staffing, training and technology to implement it by then.

Medicaid is the joint state-federal health insurance program for lower-income people. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services told state Medicaid directors on Friday that they'll still need to determine whether many enrollees and applicants for benefits are meeting new requirements that they are working, in school or volunteering. But the states can choose not to kick anyone off or deny coverage for failure to meet the requirement until July 1.

That gives state social service departments more time to make sure complicated changes are ready to run before there are consequences. CMS said that states are making progress but have implementation challenges.

“I think these extra six months are going to give states the ability to respond to the change, and there will be fewer people that lose their coverage due to administrative failures” resulting from states’ inability to prepare, Kathy Hempstead, senior policy officer for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, told The Associated Press.

Still, she said it's not clear which states will opt to use the additional time.

Kate McEvoy, executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors, said state Medicaid leaders “appreciate the additional flexibility that CMS is providing."

The decision also could give some breathing room to Congress to consider changes to the requirement. Democrats who are taking control of both chambers in January after their sweeping election victories last week have said they want to roll back the requirements.

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