EDITORIAL: Trib editorial: Medicaid & work: A healthful update

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (PA)

Jan. 22--Allowing states to require work, education or job-skill training for able-bodied Medicaid recipients under a Trump administration policy shift will inevitably invite a court challenge. So be it. A fresh look at this enormous (and growing) government entitlement and how it's administered is overdue.

First there's the purely legal consideration of whether Team Trump, absent congressional action, has the authority to allow states to impose work requirements. Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, says current law gives the administration "broad authority" to allow states to make Medicaid changes through waivers. But state waivers are supposed to promote the "objectives" of the federal government's health-care program for the poor, according to critics of the work requirement,

Therein lies the rub: Does work/job training lead to more healthful lives-- or must one's "health" first be established (and verified?) before that person can be expected to find work?

Many government benefits come with requirements for recipients. Why should Medicaid be different, assuming recipients are well enough to work?

Kentucky was the first state to require some Medicaid beneficiaries to work, followed in short order by nine other states seeking waivers. Obviously the work requirement is not as heinous as critics describe it.

At least some reliance on work and/or job training is a healthier alternative than simply perpetuating dependence on government assistance.