Giving Compass' Take:

• Simon F. Haeder explains that barriers to effective Medicaid work requirements including costs and burdens on recipients.

• Are work requirements worth the cost and effort they require? 

• Read a doctor's perspective on Medicaid work requirements 

Proponents of work requirements argue that requiring people to work will make them healthier and more economically secure. Accompanying this argument is the assertion that many beneficiaries are willfully choosing not to work. Thus, beneficiaries have to be pushed into the workforce by the government.

However, this line of argument runs counter to the expert consensus that has emerged. Most scholars emphasize the strong, positive effects that having sustained health coverage has in supporting the work efforts of people who receive benefits. Indeed, taking away medical coverage runs contrary to the goal of alleviating poverty and transitioning Medicaid beneficiaries into stable work environments.

Moreover, it runs counter to vast majority of findings on the implementation of work requirements into the the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, or what Americans generally refer to as “welfare,” in the 1990s.

Yet since taking office, the Trump administration has sought to aggressively introduce work requirements into the Medicaid program. It has argued that doing so would “put beneficiaries in control with the right incentives to live healthier, independent lives.”

Acting without congressional approval, it has relied on so-called 1115 demonstration waivers. These waivers allow states to make temporary changes to their Medicaid programs that omit certain statutory requirements.

These waivers have been traditionally used by both parties to expand, not reduce, coverage.

As a result, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services has received more than a dozen waiver requests seeking to implement work requirements from states like Kentucky, Arkansas and Michigan. Proposals differ significantly among states in terms of such characteristics as work effort required, what activities count toward compliance and exemptions.

Read the full article about Medicaid work requirements by Simon F. Haeder at The Conversation.