MM Curator summary
Ohio is considering fighting the CMS reneging on its approved work-requirements waiver.
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The State of Ohio is considering filing a lawsuit that will appeal the Biden administration ending proposed work requirements for some Medicaid recipients.
Under the Trump administration, Ohio was able to get a waiver that would require able-bodied people, who don’t have any children, to either work twenty hours a week or get job training for their Medicaid health benefits. The work requirements were supposed to start on January 1, 2021, but with the pandemic, the start date was delayed. In August, the federal government told Ohio they cannot go ahead with this plan because it goes outside the bounds of how Medicaid was set up. Lt. Gov. Jon Husted believes that having work requirements is beneficial to everyone involved.
“We believe it is ultimately valuable for them because an adult who is abled bodied and is not working is probably not doing a lot of constructive things in life,” says Husted. “We want them to do constructive things. We want to help them do constructive things and we want to help give them purpose and opportunity so they can live a better version of the American dream.”
Husted and Governor Mike DeWine have asked Ohio Attorney General David Yost to proceed with the lawsuit, but it hasn’t been filed yet.