Verma: Work requirements succeeding

CMS ADMINISTRATOR Seema Verma last week maintained that Medicaid work requirements are operating as intended despite criticism that poor individuals will lose coverage under the policy.

“I have heard the criticism and felt the resistance, but I reject the premise and here is why: It is not compassionate to trap people on government programs or create greater dependency on public assistance as we expand programs like Medicaid,” Verma told policy insiders at a Medicaid Managed Care Summit in Washington.

Although more than 4,300 Medicaid expansion enrollees in Arkansas are losing coverage because they did not comply with the state’s work requirement mandate, Verma noted that the vast majority of expansion enrollees had some type of employment before the policy kicked in. More than 1,000 Arkansas Works enrollees have found jobs since the program began in July.

Verma highlighted how one man went from being unemployed for nearly a year to securing a job making $17 an hour. Another woman on Medicaid is starting school to become a nurse.

“This is earned success. It is not granted by government, but realized through sweat, toil and initiative,” Verma said.

The CMS will continue to back work requirements, and Verma echoed President Ronald Reagan by saying, “We should measure welfare’s success by how many people leave welfare, not by how many people are added.”

She encouraged states not to be discouraged by the potential administrative costs of implementing work requirements. Waiver requests from Arizona, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Ohio, South Dakota, Utah and Wisconsin are pending review.