Indiana Aims To Sidestep Pitfalls That Hung Up Other States Implementing Medicaid Work Requirements

Indiana health officials say they are taking a gentler approach than the heavy-handed attempts that landed other states in court. And the state is emerging as a test case to see if work requirements can actually be implemented without the widespread coverage losses seen elsewhere. Medicaid news comes out of Missouri, California, Iowa and Idaho, too.

The Washington Post: Indiana Seeks To Impose Slower, Kinder Work Requirements On Medicaid Recipients
When onetime governor Mike Pence and consultant Seema Verma ran Indiana’s conservative health-care system, they found a creative way to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act when many other red states rejected it. Now, with Pence as vice president and Verma as the head of the federal Medicaid and Medicare programs, Indiana is again blazing its own path on health care, with the Trump administration’s avid encouragement. Like other states, Indiana recently imposed work requirements on some of the state’s 1.4 million Hoosiers who receive benefits under the health program for low-income Americans. (Winfield Cunningham, 9/1)

KCUR: As Missouri Trims Its Medicaid Rolls, Families Say They've Been Kicked Off Unfairly 
In recent months, eligible families across the state say they’ve been arriving at doctors’ appointments to learn their children have been unwittingly dropped from the program and are unable to receive the required medical care. ...Many parents say they never received re-enrollment paperwork before getting kicked off. Earlier this summer, the Department of Social Services did send Uchtman a postcard telling her to expect re-enrollment paperwork, she said. But it never came. (Fentem and Driscoll, 9/2)

Sacramento Bee: Sacramento Expands Medi-Cal Access To Alcohol And Drug Treatment
On Aug. 20, the agency approved the county as one of California’s latest participants in the Drug Medi-Cal Organized Delivery System Waiver, an amendment to federal statute requirements that allows the county to include more high-quality services for all eligible Medi-Cal patients — that’s over 500,000 people. In practice, that means Medi-Cal clients can now call a toll-free number any time of the day, seven days per week, and access a more inclusive list of addiction treatments and services, Oakland-based nonprofit California Health Care Foundation said in a brief. (Ghisolfi, 8/30)

The Associated Press: Ousted Iowa Director Files $2M Wrongful Discharge Claim
The former head of the Iowa Department of Human Services is seeking $2 million for wrongful termination, claiming Gov. Kim Reynolds fired him for questioning whether the department should be paying one of her staffers to assist with the state's Medicaid program. Jerry Foxhoven was ousted from his job on June 17, a day after sending an email to 4,300 agency employees gushing about the late rapper Tupac Shakur, The Associated Press reported. (8/30)

Ktvb.Com: Idaho's Medicaid Expansion Saga Continues After First-Round Of Proposed Restrictions Are Rejected
A months-long debate over Medicaid expansion is still not over, even though the Idaho Legislature approved it last session - doing so with some restrictions. Some of those restrictions are now being rejected at a federal level. Last week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) rejected the state's waiver that would have allowed Idahoans who make between 100 to 138 percent of the federal poverty level to be on the state exchange plans, rather than Medicaid, even though they qualify for it. (Inglet, 9/2)

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