OSP Encourages the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to Approve Kentucky’s Medicaid Work Requirement

Washington, DC – Today, the Opportunity Solutions Project (OSP) submitted comments in response to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) call for public comment on re-approval of Kentucky’s Medicaid work requirement waiver. In June, a federal judge blocked Kentucky’s work requirement, which would require able-bodied adults to work, train, or volunteer at least 20 hours per week in order to be eligible for Medicaid.

Reasons for OSP’s support include:

  • Kentucky needs more workers
    • Kentucky’s unemployment rate is at an all-time low while more than 45,000 unfilled jobs are currently posted online and an additional 84,000 new job openings are being added each year.
  • Able-bodied adults on Medicaid aren’t working
    • According to data provided by the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, approximately 52 percent of the able-bodied adults made eligible for Medicaid by ObamaCare have no earned income.
  • Work requirements are effective
    • Results in states with similar work requirements showed those leaving food stamps went back to work in more than 600 different industries and saw their incomes more than double, on average.
  • Work requirements will further Medicaid’s core objectives
    • One of Medicaid’s core statutory objectives is to help low-income families and individuals attain capability for independence. Work is the best path into self-sufficiency and independence.

OSP’s full comments can be downloaded here.

Opportunity Solutions Project is a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy organization that seeks to improve lives by advocating for public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, individual liberty, and a limited, accountable government.

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