Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin announced the state is following a Trump plan to require work for Medicaid coverage. It becomes the first state to act on the change that will affect millions of the people receiving the benefits.

DID YOU KNOW THAT 70 MILLION AMERICANS ARE ON MEDICAID?

 Medicaid covers more than 70 million people, or about one in five Americans. Currently, the largest government health insurance program does not required people to have a job or be employed to receive the benefits.

DID YOU KNOW THAT OBAMA IS RESPONSIBLE FOR EXPLODING WASTE AND FRAUD IN MEDICAID BY CHANGING ELIGIBILITY RULES?

Kevin Williamson at National Review reports:

In September of 2016, the Department of Health and Human Services sent out a warning that improper payments under Medicaid have become so common that they will account this year for almost 12 percent of total Medicaid spending — just shy of $140 billion. (Total improper payments across federal programs will come to about $139 billion this year, according to estimates that have proved too generous in the past, and almost all of that is Medicaid-driven.) That rate has doubled in only a few years, driven mostly by the so-called Affordable Care Act’s liberalization of Medicaid-eligibility rules. 

THE NEW PLAN:

The new plan requires that adults age 19 to 64 must complete 80 hours of “community engagement” per month to keep their care. That includes working a job, going to school, taking a job-training course or volunteering.

“There is dignity associated with earning the value of something that you receive. The vast majority of men and women, able-bodied men and women … they want the dignity associated with being able to earn and have engagement.”

– Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin

Kentuckians also will be required to pay up to $15 a month for their insurance, with basic dental and vision being eliminated entirely. However, those benefits can be earned back through a rewards program, such as getting an annual physical, completing a diabetes or weight management course or participating in an anti-smoking program.

The change was approved Friday by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

The Trump administration announced Thursday it would allow for states to impose work requirements for people receiving Medicaid.

Fox News reports:

Bevin’s office stated in its proposal to Washington that the move will save taxpayers more than $300 million over the next five years, and estimated that up to 95,000 people could lose their benefits because they either didn’t comply with the new rule or they obtained jobs that pay too much money and push them out of the low-income bracket.

However, there are some exemptions to the work requirements that will be enforced starting in July and remain in effect for five years. Pregnant women, full-time students, former foster care youth, primary caregivers of children and the elderly and full-time students will not be affected.

People deemed “medically frail,” a broad term that encompasses people who are battling drug and alcohol addiction, will also be exempt.

The big question is whether this new exception will be abused by many on Medicaid to fraudulently claim “medical frailty”. The problem with government programs like this is that they are always abused by the fraudsters out there.

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