MACPAC to Ask Administration to Pause on Medicaid Work Requirements

ANCOR is sharing this Bloomberg article because of our concerns that Medicaid work requirements will affect people with I/DD and the DSP workforce, and because of our on-going interest in the Medicaid and Chip Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC):

“Federal advisers will ask the Trump administration to hold off on approving controversial Medicaid work requirements, an advisory panel decided Oct. 25.

The new rules tie Medicaid eligibility to maintaining a job, pursuing education, or volunteering. Members of the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission also want Arkansas, the first state to roll out the sweeping eligibility overhaul, to slow down implementation while they build in more safeguards for beneficiaries.

Implementation of sweeping Medicaid overhauls is always difficult but less so with more time and more data, Commissioner Christopher Gorton said. Gorton is the former president of public plans at Tufts Health Plan.

‘Let’s do it right,’ he said. ‘Let’s hit the pause button, not forever or in response to what we’re seeing in Arkansas, simply because we’re not ready to dance here.’

The panel, which advises Congress and health-care officials, plans to detail its concerns in a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar.”

Members interested in the MACPAC October meeting, held on the 25^th, can find a summary and presentation slides here. In addition to the above content on Arkansas’ Medicaid work requirements, the meeting focused on disproportionate share hospital (DHS) payments, the implications of the Administration’s proposed public charge regulations for Medicaid and CHIP, Medicaid issues specific to Puerto Rico, and drug pricing.