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Kentucky Slams the Hammer Down on Medicaid Recipients, Tells Them to Start Working

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President Donald Trump and his administration recently sparked the fury of big government Democrats when they announced that they were open to individual states adding work requirements to their Medicaid systems.

According to Politico, the announcement came by way of a policy guidance issued by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma in response to requests from roughly a dozen states for more “flexibility” in implementing the program.

“Medicaid needs to be more flexible so that states can best address the needs of this population,” Verma said in a statement on Thursday, according to Politico. “Our fundamental goal is to make a positive and lasting difference in the health and wellness of our beneficiaries.”

The new policy would allow states to implement changes to Medicaid eligibility, such as requiring able-bodied adults to work or volunteer at least 20 hours per week, if not enrolled in school or vocational training, to remain eligible to receive benefits.

The states expected to take advantage of this policy shift include: Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Utah and Wisconsin.

According to USA Today, Kentucky wasted little time in adopting the new policy as its own, and on Friday became the first state in the nation to add work requirements for able-bodied Medicaid recipients.

“I am excited by the fact that Kentucky will now lead the nation,” stated Republican Gov. Matt Bevin at a news conference, USA Today reported. “We’re ready to show America how this can and will be done.”

“It will be a model for the nation,” he added.

Beginning in July, all Kentucky Medicaid recipients of working age who are capable of working must work or volunteer for 20 hours per week if they aren’t enrolled in school of some sort.

Do you think able-bodied Medicaid recipients should be required to work, volunteer or be enrolled in school to remain eligible for benefits?

Those recipients excluded from the new work requirements include the disabled, the elderly, those with severe medical issues that make them “frail,” pregnant women, and adults who care full-time for dependent children or adults.

According to TheBlaze, the Kentucky work requirement is expected to affect about 200,000 Medicaid recipients in the state, most of whom were added to the system after it was expanded under Obamacare.

Bevin, who has previously stated that rising Medicaid costs were “not sustainable” in the long run, estimated that his state could see savings of as much as $300 million over the next five years due to the change.

He also suggested that the “dignity of work” could help some struggling recipients “rise up out of poverty” through employment, and noted that people who work tend to be healthier than those who don’t.

Of course, there are plenty of critics to the new work requirements, some of whom have hysterically stated that “people will die” if they lose their Medicaid coverage.

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Those critics also say the addition of work requirements is illegal and have threatened legal action to stop the implementation, and laughably complained that the move would add more “red tape” to the already complicated bureaucracy Democrats helped create.

Other states are certain to follow Kentucky’s lead on this issue, and it will be interesting to see how the new requirements work out for them over the next several years. We suspect, rather than people dying in the streets due to lost coverage, enrollment and costs will be reduced as more people acquire employment and no longer need Medicaid assistance.

Please share this on Facebook and Twitter to let everyone know that Kentucky just became the first state to add work requirements for able-bodied Medicaid recipients.

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Ben Marquis is a writer who identifies as a constitutional conservative/libertarian. He has written about current events and politics for The Western Journal since 2014. His focus is on protecting the First and Second Amendments.
Ben Marquis has written on current events and politics for The Western Journal since 2014. He reads voraciously and writes about the news of the day from a conservative-libertarian perspective. He is an advocate for a more constitutional government and a staunch defender of the Second Amendment, which protects the rest of our natural rights. He lives in Little Rock, Arkansas, with the love of his life as well as four dogs and four cats.
Birthplace
Louisiana
Nationality
American
Education
The School of Life
Location
Little Rock, Arkansas
Languages Spoken
English
Topics of Expertise
Politics




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