Hundreds of thousands of Kentucky residents could lose Medicaid under the work demonstration project

[G_j]

https://m.medicalxpress.com/news/2018-04-hundreds-thousands-kentucky-residents-medicaid.html

April 9, 2018
George Washington University

In January of 2018, 15 Kentucky Medicaid beneficiaries filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia challenging the federal government's legal authority to launch Medicaid work demonstrations and its approval of Kentucky's Medicaid work demonstration, the first in the nation. The lawsuit (Stewart v. Azar) seeks to block the implementation of Medicaid work demonstrations because they are contrary to law and pose major health risks for the poorest and most vulnerable citizens.

On April 6, 43 public health scholars, including 8 Deans and Associate Deans at schools of public health, public policy and public administration, filed a public health "friend of the court" brief to support the 15 Medicaid enrollees. The amicus brief says that in the history of 1115, no administration has ever used its power simply to remove people from Medicaid. The brief also argues that the work requirements are unlawful, contrary to the very purpose of the Medicaid program. The Deans and scholars also present evidence that, based on past experience with similar work requirements under the SNAP program, the Kentucky demonstration as approved could result in loss of Medicaid for hundreds of thousands of people in Kentucky alone, a far higher figure than that presented to the federal government by the state.

"Unless such work requirements are stopped, millions of low-income Americans are at major risk of losing the protection of health insurance," said Lynn R. Goldman, Michael and Lori Milken Dean of the Milken Institute School of Public Health (Milken Institute SPH) at the George Washington University and one of the public health deans joining the brief. "The work requirements are in conflict with Medicaid's core objective, which is to provide medical assistance for the poorest and most vulnerable Americans who qualify for help."

If the court does not stop implementation of work requirements in Kentucky, other states would follow that lead, argues the brief. The end result: Medicaid beneficiaries in states across the nation are likely to lose access to care for both preventive and serious and chronic health conditions, some of which could be life-threatening.

..more..

[Aristus]

1. Kentucky went for Trump by a sizable margin.

So I don't want to hear their whining...

[Farmer-Rick]

2. Or did they?

How do we know that the majority of people in Kentucky really voted for Hillary but Putin, Trump and GOP just rigged the numbers? We don't know.

[Aristus]

3. I'd love it if that were the case.

I have a lot of fond memories of the times (two different times, both at Ft. Knox) when I lived there.

[mountain grammy]

4. One of the saddest things about America is

people suffer because the health and well being of citizens is a political football, and they deserve to suffer because they voted for this? No, I just can't go there, not anymore and it's disgusting that there are factions in my own Democratic party who would favor a work requirement or be fine with suffering as long as it's a red state that voted for this disaster.

The brief also points out that the federal government ignored the spillover effects of its approved demonstration, particularly its impact on the health care safety net in the poorest communities that benefitted most from the Medicaid expansion and that risk loss of access to care on a community-wide basis. One example of this spillover, the brief points out, is the state's community health centers; based on the proportion of patients who could lose coverage, health centers could experience revenue drops steep enough to lay off up to 700 staff and eliminate care for up to 100,000 patients - about 1 in 4 patients served by Kentucky health centers today.

Here's a link to the "friend of the court" brief supported by 43 public health scholars, including 8 Deans and Associate Deans at schools of public health, public policy and public administration.. but what do they know?

https://publichealth.gwu.edu/sites/default/files/downloads/HPM/Kentucky%20Medicaid%20Proposed%20Amici%20Curiae%20Brief.pdf