CMS approved Wisconsin’s Medicaid work requirement waiver, making them the 5th state to have their work requirement waiver approved. Wisconsin is the 1st state to receive approval for work requirements since a federal court ruled them unconstitutional in Kentucky.
Medicaid members between the ages of 19 and 49 will be required to work, volunteer, be in school or in a job training program for at least 80 hours a month. Recipients who don’t comply after 48 months will lose their eligibility. The state is also allowed to charge premiums for what is normally free and to raise those premiums for people with riskier health behaviors like smoking.
Of the four other states CMS has given the greenlight to, only Arkansas has implemented work requirements. Indiana and New Hampshire will start enforcing them in January, and Kentucky’s have been sent back to CMS for review.
Arizona’s Work Requirement Request
A 2015 AZ law requires AHCCCS to annually ask the CMS for permission to require work (or work training) and income reporting for “able bodied adults” and a 5-year lifetime limit on AHCCCS eligibility.
Late last year AHCCCS submitted their annual official waiver request including a requirement to become employed, actively seek employment, attend school, or partake in Employment Support and Development activities (with exceptions) and a requirement to bi-annually verify compliance with the requirements and any changes in family income. CMS hasn’t yet ruled on the AZ request.
HB 2228 requires AHCCCS to exempt of tribal members from the work requirements but CMS has suggested that they won’t be approving waiver requests that exempt tribal members because they believe exempting them could raise civil rights issues.
For now it’s status quo.
