Ohio will ask Trump to approve work requirements for Medicaid

At least 61,000 Ohioans could lose Medicaid benefits if President-elect Donald Trump’s team approves Ohio’s request to add a work requirement for the public health insurance, according to state projections.

The actual number could be as high as 450,000 Ohioans − enough to fill Ohio Stadium more than four times over, according to an analysis from the Center for Community Solutions, a Cleveland-based think tank. The actual number is likely somewhere in between.

Ohio’s request is one example of how Trump’s presidency could change health care access and policies in the Buckeye State.

If approved, Ohio would require adults 55 and younger to prove they worked at least 20 hours a week or qualified for an exception, such as going to school, participating in an alcohol or drug addiction treatment program or having a serious mental illness, to obtain Medicaid.

More than 3 million Ohioans, including 1.2 million children, receive Medicaid, a public health insurance for low-income residents paid with state and federal dollars. The work requirements would apply to Ohio adults who earn less than $20,030 a year for an individual.

Trump’s administration approved Ohio’s request once before in March 2019, but it was placed on hold because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration withdrew that approval in August 2021. Now, Ohio’s Republican lawmakers and GOP Gov. Mike DeWine are trying again.

“In Ohio, our goal is to empower all people to reach their full potential,” DeWine wrote in a statement about the new request, which Ohio’s GOP-controlled Legislature approved in 2023. “While this certainly includes providing critical assistance to people when they need it, we also have a responsibility to ensure as many Ohioans as possible are on a pathway to financial independence.”

The Center for Community Solutions’ estimate of 448,173 people is based on Census data and includes several groups who would be exempt from work requirements, such as people between 55 and 64 years old and those taking classes.

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Opponents: Work requirements don’t work

Opponents of work requirements say they impose unnecessary barriers to Medicaid and cost too much to implement. For example, Georgia’s work requirement was mired in red tape and cost $13,000 per enrollee, compared to Ohio’s average cost of $9,520 per enrollee, according to Policy Matters Ohio, a left-leaning think tank.

“I have no problem with policies that incentivize working. I have a problem with tying work incentives to one of the most basic things every human being needs, which is access to health care services,” said Dan Skinner, a professor of health policy at Ohio University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine. “It just seems short-sighted and cruel.”

Arkansas’ short-lived work requirement removed 18,000 from health insurance but didn’t increase employment, according to a review of the program, which a federal judge placed on hold after nine months.

“It’ll become a bureaucratic mess” if Ohio imposes work requirements, state Rep. Tristan Rader, D-Lakewood, said. He also disagrees that health care should be tied to work. “I am a proponent and a wholehearted believer that health care should be a human right.”

The Trump effect on Medicaid

Red states like Ohio see an opportunity to add work requirements under a new Trump administration and a new set of Trump-appointed federal judges.

Congress could push for a work requirement nationwide, which would cut federal-funded Medicaid for 1.5 million Americans and save $109 billion over 10 years, according to a Congressional Budget Office analysis.

Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman, R-Lima, said he expects the Trump administration to empower states to “deal with the Medicaid enrollment.” That could include applying the work requirement to more Ohioans and preventing people from enrolling for benefits in multiple states.

Skinner said Ohio’s renewed interest in work requirements is all about politics. “Politics is driving this return to Medicaid work requirements. Nothing in policy, nothing in the law has changed.”

Want to weigh in?

If you want to weigh in on Ohio’s work requirement application, you have until 5 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 21, to provide feedback. You can email comments to GroupVIII@medicaid.ohio.gov or mail them to Group VIII 1115 Waiver, Bureau of Health Plan Policy, Ohio Department of Medicaid, 50 W. Town St, 5th Floor, Columbus, OH 43215.

This article was originally published by a www.dispatch.com . Read the Original article here. .

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