The Trump administration official who oversees Medicaid applauded Virginia for adding work requirements to its Medicaid expansion that passed the state legislature last week.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will decide on a request from Virginia and other states that seek to expand Medicaid. Administrator Seema Verma gave a shoutout to states that seek to add work rules to their expansions of Medicaid under Obamacare.
“I think this administration is focused on getting people back to work,” she said. “What we want to do is help people rise out of poverty.”
[Related: Seema Verma on Medicaid expansion: ‘We have to follow the law’]
But Verma didn’t say that states that seek federal approval for the Medicaid expansion would get a leg up if they add a work requirement. President Trump has promised to repeal Obamacare and the expansion, but congressional efforts fell short last year.
“When a state submits a waiver application or an amendment, our job is to process those things,” she said, adding that CMS would look at all expansion waivers fairly.
Four states — New Hampshire, Arkansas, Indiana, and Kentucky — have received federal approval for a waiver to install work requirements for certain Medicaid beneficiaries. Another eight states have waivers pending.
Virginia’s legislature passed a budget deal last week that included expanding Medicaid. The expansion includes rules for certain beneficiaries to work, volunteer, or get job training to receive Medicaid benefits.
Virginia became the 33rd state along with the District of Columbia to seek to expand Medicaid under Obamacare.
It may not be the last, as Utah and Idaho voters are expected to decide on a Medicaid expansion ballot measure this fall and so are a handful of other states. Maine voters approved a similar waiver last year in a ballot measure, but Republican Gov. Paul LePage has refused to expand Medicaid. The obstruction led to a lawsuit from activists.
