Mich. health care proposal would affect blacks most
Michigan Republicans’ plan to require some recipients of government health insurance to work would disproportionately affect black people, a Washington Post analysis of new data from state health officials reveals.
Arguing new rules are necessary to push people into jobs and off taxpayersubsidized health plans, state Republicans are moving a proposal through the Legislature that would impose work requirements on some Medicaid recipients.
The proposal would exempt people living in counties where the unemployment rate tops 8.5 percent, a provision GOP lawmakers say is aimed at protecting those in areas where job opportunities are scarce.
Medicaid enrollment data provided to The Post from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services shows that this exemption would overwhelmingly benefit white people while leaving the work requirements in place for all but a sliver of the affected African-American population.
Without the exemption, the work requirements are projected to apply primarily to approximately 700,000 residents enrolled in Medicaid under broader eligibility rules passed under Republican Gov. Rick Snyder.
African-Americans make up about 23 percent of that population, but they would make up only 1.2 percent of the people eligible for the unemployment exemption. White people make up 57 percent of the total potential affected population, but they make up 85 percent of the group eligible for the unemployment exemption, according to an analysis of the state’s data.
This analysis was based on the population enrolled via the state’s Medicaid expansion, which health experts say is the group expected to be subject to the work requirements, because enrollees on “traditional” Medicaid are likely to be exempted.
Republican proponents say the unemployment exemption would help vulnerable Michigan residents retain health insurance if they cannot find work near their home. Critics say it primarily helps white residents in rural parts of the state while failing to account for the employment barriers African-Americans face in cities with high jobless rates.