Republicans forcing 'red tape' on Medicaid recipients in election-year push for work rules

Medicaid work rules have inspired some heated debates among Democrats and Republicans.

While many Republicans have argued that work requirements for Medicaid encourage people to pursue employment opportunities, Democrats have often slammed them as a cumbersome and unnecessary form of red tape — stressing that most Medicaid recipients are already working.

In 2023, Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, an administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, complained to Arkansas lawmakers, "In some cases, people were not required to work but didn't fill out the required paperwork. It's not just people who are subject to the requirements that often get caught up in red tape. It can often be people who are exempted."

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According to Axios' Maya Goldman, some red states are seeing a renewed push for Medicaid work rules.

In a report published on January 24, Goldman explains, "Rules requiring some low-income adults to work, attend school or volunteer as a condition of coverage could force more people off the Medicaid rolls at a time when millions have been dropped from the program following the expiration of pandemic-era coverage protections. While the Biden Administration largely reversed the Trump Administration's first-ever approvals of work rules, the policy is expected to get new life under a future Republican administration."

In South Dakota, State Rep. Tony Venhuizen, a Republican, has sponsored a bill that, Goldman notes, "would let voters, this November, decide if the state should consider Medicaid work requirements."

Venhuizen told Axios, "The assumption is that this wouldn't become a live option unless there was a change in administrations. It could be an option next year; it could be another four years."

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Goldman cites Idaho and Louisiana as some of the red states where Republicans are pushing Medicaid work requirements.

"In Idaho, which originally sought a work requirement in 2019, Gov. Brad Little's new budget again calls for Medicaid work rules," the Axios reporter explains. "Lawmakers this week also introduced a bill that would effectively block the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion in the state unless it implements work rules. Louisiana's new Republican governor, Jeff Landry, is reportedly considering adding Medicaid work requirements."

Goldman adds, "Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, has proposed work rules to entice Republican lawmakers into supporting the ACA Medicaid expansion. However, Republican lawmakers rejected the idea last month, questioning if the federal government would support work rules."

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Read Axios' full report at this link.