Pay attention to proposed change in Medicaid rules

If Gov. John Kasich is to be judged on the values he says he tried to follow during his two terms, attention must be paid to the Medicaid work requirements his administration seeks to impose as his tenure winds down.

For good or bad, Kasich will be remembered for bucking his Republican colleagues and the usual legislative process to expand Medicaid, the federal/ state program of health care for the poor and disabled.

Now advocates for Ohio’s neediest citizens say Kasich’s legacy of extending help to those less fortunate is threatened by proposed new rules requiring Medicaid recipients to either work or meet exemptions to continue their healthcare access. The proposed work rules are to be officially filed after a comment period ends March 18. Then federal approval is expected within a couple of months, making a July 1 start date possible.

The proposed work requirement came about as lawmakers last year enacted the state’s current two-year budget. The administration had sought to impose health-care premiums for Medicaid recipients with incomes at the federal poverty level and above. (In Ohio, those with incomes up to 138 percent of poverty — $16,753 for an individual or $34,638 for a family of four— may be eligible for Medicaid.) When lawmakers suggested work requirements instead, the administration didn’t oppose the substitution.

Either option moves Medicaid toward requiring a measure of “personal responsibility,” which the Kasich administration has long desired, explained Greg Moody, director of the state’s Office of Health Transformation. The intent is to enact the work requirements with “fairness and reasonableness,” Moody said, but that’s where opponents fear the state will fail.

The Medicaid work requirements would apply to new beneficiaries and about 700,000 who qualify only because of Kasich’s expansion of eligibility. Exemptions are to be consistent with exceptions to work requirements imposed in 2013 under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for food-stamp recipients in all but 13 counties.

Read the full editorial from the Columbus Dispatch at bit. ly/2FBRalQ