Proposed work requirements for Medicaid in Michigan: April 20, 2018
At the start of 2018, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced a major shift in federal policy that would allow states to request permission to establish, and test the impact of, work and community engagement requirements for able-bodied adults receiving Medicaid health insurance coverage. In early March, Michigan state senators took the first step toward preparing a Medicaid work requirement proposal of their own by introducing Senate Bill 897. The bill passed the Michigan State Senate on April 19.
In the last three months, work requirement proposals have been approved in three states; formal applications have been submitted by seven more; and a number of others are preparing proposals.
In this fact sheet, we compare the characteristics and projected impact of Michigan’s Medicaid work requirement proposal against the characteristics and projected impact of approved work requirement proposals in Kentucky, Indiana, and Arkansas.
The characteristics we compare include: target Medicaid populations, Medicaid enrollment, populations exempt from the new work requirements, the hours of work required, activities counted as work, and loss of coverage rules. It is difficult to project the impact of work requirements on the Medicaid population because there is no precedent program, but we discuss some possibilities.
For updated information, read our article from June 7.