Skip to main content

Medicaid Briefs: Who is Harmed by Work Requirements?

Computed Year
2018

 

New Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) guidance for the first time lets states take away people’s Medicaid coverage if they aren’t working or engaged in work-related activities for a required number of hours per month. Medicaid work requirements will cause many low-income adults to lose coverage. That includes many people who are already working or are supposed to be exempt (due to a disability, serious illness, or substance use disorder), but who won’t be able to overcome the bureaucratic obstacles to prove that they meet the requirements or qualify for limited exemptions. Not only will these coverage losses worsen access to care and health outcomes, but taking away people’s health coverage will often make it harder for them to find or keep a job.

Read more about the problems with imposing work requirements on Medicaid.