Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper became the latest Democratic governor who says he is open to adopting work requirements for some Medicaid beneficiaries.
About a dozen states, all led by Republicans, have sought a federal waiver to install work requirements. But Hickenlooper joins Lousiana Gov. John Bel Edwards as Democrats open to the idea.
“On the merits of it, I think most of this country has been built on people working,” Hickenlooper said during a press conference at the National Press Club.
There are a “lot of people very frustrated when they think that people are freeloading on the system,” he said.
Hickenlooper added that he has no problem with work requirements as long as they apply only to able-bodied and healthy people.
Sixty percent of Medicaid recipients who would be affected by the requirements already work, according to a report from the research group Kaiser Family Foundation.
The Trump administration has approved two federal waivers for Kentucky and Indiana. The waivers require able-bodied beneficiaries to work, volunteer or get job training 20 hours a week.
Kentucky’s waiver is the subject of a class-action lawsuit with opponents saying it violates the Constitution because it changes Medicaid eligibility rules without legislation from Congress.
The other states that have applied are Arizona, Arkansas, Kansas, Ohio, Maine, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Utah, and Wisconsin. Each of those states has a Republican governor.
Ohio’s Republican Gov. John Kasich said at the same press conference that he doesn’t have a problem with work requirements. The state’s legislature called for Ohio’s Medicaid program to seek a waiver.
“Reasonable work requirement are fine with me,” Kasich said. “It just has to be thought of in a way that is going to work and be practical.”
Hickenlooper said his state has not applied for a federal waiver but the idea is being considered in his state’s legislature.
Louisiana’s Edwards said in January that he wants “reasonable” work requirements and he is actively working on the idea, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
