Common Sense New Medicaid Requirements Tested in Kentucky

The State of Kentucky has been granted the right to expand its Medicaid program with two new requirements that actually, and fairly, should be applied not only to Medicaid participants in that state, but to welfare recipients there in general.

Going forward, all Kentucky Medicaid enrollees, who are physically and mentally capable, ages 19-64, will be required to “work, train, or volunteer for 80-hours per month in order to continue receiving those benefits”.  There are exceptions: Expectant mothers, those with severe medical issues, and full-time students.  Beyond that, all others in the program will be expected to work, train, or serve in their communities as volunteers.  Medicaid, and other welfare programs, were always intended to be temporary, meant only to bridge times and issues in life, not to be permanent, which inevitably creates dependency.  The hope is that with this work or training requirement, recipients will be able to move toward employment, ideally enabling them to move off of welfare rolls.

The second new requirement under the expanded Kentucky Medicaid program is that any Medicaid recipient who fails to report significant “life changes” (e.g.,  job changes, address changes, marriage, etc.), occurring in between the already-required annual reviews, will lose Medicaid benefits for six-months.  The attempt here is to help eliminate fraud, vital to maintaining those benefits for those who do obey the rules, and for those waiting to become enrolled.

Kentucky is to be congratulated for developing these first-in-the-nation Medicaid eligibility revisions, which ultimately will both assist current recipients to develop alternatives to long-term dependency, and to potentially save tax-payers, collectively, a whole lot of money from fraudulent use, in this incredibly expensive government program.  Hopefully, others will follow Kentucky’s lead by implementing these requirements, ideally within all states across the nation.

(Reference:  American Spectator On-Line 1-27-18)