The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid on Friday approved a request from Utah for a partial statewide Medicaid expansion that includes a work requirement.
The Utah Department of Health announced that Utah residents who earn up to 95 percent of the federal poverty level, at least 70,000 Utah adults, will be eligible for Medicaid as of Monday.
The Utah program, enacted by Republican Gov. Gary Herbert, supplants a version of Obamacare Medicaid expansion that Utah voters had approved through a ballot initiative in the fall.
The plan includes a work requirement that is “applicable to a subset of those individuals who are capable of greater engagement with their communities,” but it will not be enforced until 2020. Medicaid work requirements were recently shut down in Arkansas and Kentucky by a federal judge.
The Trump administration determined that establishing the partial extension would not only create financial independence for beneficiaries but also improve mental and physical health as more Utah residents engage in work, while also saving costs.
The CMS determination also says that while the work requirement and enrollment cap were unpopular among Utahns, without it, citizens would “not receive the more robust coverage” that program provides.
The waiver granted by CMS states that enrollment may close if the state runs out of money, but the program is set to last for one year to then be replaced by a long-term Medicaid program. For now, the federal government will cover 70 percent of costs, leaving Utah to cover the remaining 30 percent. After 12 months, the state will have to apply for an extension.
