Senate Democrats Push Back on Administration’s Authority to Change Medicaid Waivers

Senator Wyden, Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, and 29 other Democratic Senators sent a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services on January 17, 2018 expressing concern that the recent guidance issued by CMS, which encouraged work requirements for Medicaid among other issues, goes against the statutory intent of the program. The letter also questions whether the Administration has the legal authority to go against the statutory intent of the program. The full letter can be accessed here. If you missed ANCOR’s preliminary analysis of the guidance, we have linked it here for your convenience.

ANCOR’s Government Relations Advisory Committee has been discussing the work requirement policy development.  Members might find this issue brief from the Kaiser Family Foundation on the status of state waivers and issues that could arise with them helpful as ANCOR does further analysis.