GOP Medicaid effort outrages Democrats, falls short
A Republican effort to create a work requirement for Colorado’s Medicaid recipients failed in a GOPcontrolled committee Thursday after its first hearing, drawing outrage along the way from Democrats and people enrolled in the health care program.
Senate Bill 214 sought to mandate that “able-bodied adults” seeking Medicaid benefits be employed, be actively seeking employment, volunteer with a nonprofit or be receiving job training.
It also would have established a lifetime limit of five years for Medicaid services and a monthly income verification mandate.
Those requirements would not have had to be met by anyone in high school or pregnant or a caregiver for a family member under 5 years old. People receiving temporary or long-term disability benefits also would have been exempt.
“The able-bodied person who lives in the state — we’re not saying that they need to be off (Medicaid),” said Larry Crowder, R-Alamosa, one of the bill’s main sponsors. “… We’re looking at a fairly small percentage of the total Medicaid (pool).”
Crowder said the legislation simply aimed to preserve the federal-state program — which ensures low-income populations, as well as children, pregnant women and people with disabilities, have health coverage — and to make sure that able-bodied people who are on Medicaid are trying to improve their situation.
The bill was rejected by the Senate Health and Human Services Committee 3-2. Sen. Beth Martinez Humenik, an Adams County Republican in a vulnerable district, cast the fatal vote.
The legislation came amid a similar push by the GOP nationally and after Colorado’s Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper said last month that he was open — albeit cautiously — to imposing such work requirements.
The debate came, too, after the Trump administration opened the door for states to add a work stipulation to their Medicaid programs.
Legislative budget analysts estimated that nearly 5 percent of Colorado’s Medicaid recipients would not comply with the requirements and would have lost benefits should the bill have passed, although some advocates say that number could have been higher. About one in five people — or about 1.3 million people — are Medicaid recipients in the state.
Before the bill’s committee hearing, several dozen opponents held a rally outside the Capitol saying the measure would create hurdles for those who need health care. Adam Fox, director of strategic engagement at the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative, said it was “a bill in search of a problem that doesn’t exist.”
“Senate Bill 214 is about creating barriers to health care, not responding to them,” said Rep. Daneya Esgar, D-Pueblo. “There is absolutely no need for it. … It would create another burden on many families who are working hard to make it every single day in Colorado.”