Sec. 517. Policy statement on Medicaid work requirements
352 words·~2 min read·
/bill/115/hconres/71/rh/section-517·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
The House finds the following: Medicaid is a Federal-State program that provides health care coverage for impoverished Americans. Medicaid serves four major population categories: the elderly, the blind and disabled, children, and adults. The Congressional Budget Office projects the average monthly enrollment in Medicaid for fiscal year 2018 to be 78 million people. Of this 78 million people, 27 million – more than one third of the enrollees – are non-elderly, non-disabled adults.
Medicaid continues to grow at an unsustainable rate, and will cost approximately one trillion dollars per year within the decade, between Federal and State spending. Congress has a responsibility to preserve limited Medicaid resources for America’s most vulnerable – those who cannot provide for themselves. Forbes reported last year on a first-of-its-kind study conducted by the Foundation for Government Accountability. It analyzed data from the State of Kansas, which demonstrates that work requirements have led to greater employment, higher incomes, and less poverty.
The State of Maine implemented work requirements in 2014, and saw incomes rise for able-bodied welfare recipients by an average of 114 percent within a year. Work is a valuable source of human dignity, and work requirements help lift Americans out of poverty by incentivizing self-reliance. It is the policy of this concurrent resolution that— Congress should enact legislation that encourages able-bodied, non-elderly, non-pregnant adults without dependents to work, actively seek work, participate in a job-training program, or do community service, in order to receive Medicaid;
Medicaid work requirements legislation could include 30 hours per week of work, of which 20 of those hours should be spent in the core activities of: public or private sector employment, work experience, on-the-job training, job-search or job-readiness assistance program participation, community service, or vocational training and education; States should be given flexibility to determine the parameters of qualifying program participation and work-equivalent experience; States should perform regular case checks to ensure taxpayer dollars are appropriately spent; and the Government Accountability Office or the Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General should conduct annual audits of State Medicaid programs to ensure proper reporting and prevent waste, fraud, and abuse.