The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released a guidance Thursday outlining what states need to do to mandate that certain Medicaid enrollees work to qualify for benefits. The agency is expected to start approving state waivers promoting “community engagement activities” in coming weeks.
The historic move would be a significant change in how the government health insurance program operates and would fulfill a longtime Republican goal. States, for instance, could require non-disabled, working age recipients to work, volunteer, go to school or enter a job training program. The guidance also includes caregiving as one of the activities.
Wisconsin is already pioneering in this arena. I like that the federal government is allowing it, but not requiring it. If the liberals in California don’t want to require some work for taxpayer-funded benefits, then that’s up to them.
Requiring work will be a lot more difficult than drug testing. When I proposed using jail inmates to do some menial work, the unions screamed bloody murder about having their jobs taken away. Imagine the uproar if some Medicaid recipients start taking their jobs away.