House panel to consider work requirement for Medicaid

Jan. 29--In a first House of Delegates feeler toward expanding low-income Virginians' access to health care, Speaker Kirk Cox has slated discussion of a work requirement for Medicaid recipients Tuesday.

Two bills clearing the way for that never-before-implemented demand will be the first of several Medicaid and health insurance issues to come up for discussion after they took an unusual side step to the Rules Committee panel this year.

Cox has directed eight bills touching on Medicaid or the Affordable Care Act go to the Rules Committee instead of the panels that usually handle such issues, in what some legislators see as an attempt to work out some kind of compromise on coverage for low-income Virginians.

"The House is willing to begin a dialogue on health care that includes significant reforms and strong taxpayer safeguards," Cox said in a letter to Gov. Ralph Northam.

But Cox said he was disconcerted by a Richmond Times-Dispatch report that Northam wants Virginia to expand Medicaid in a straightforward way, and that he opposed work requirements.

Talking about work requirements will be a key test about whether there is a way forward, he said.

"If there is significant opposition to the common sense concept of requiring able-bodied adults to work before receiving entitlement benefits, I fear the window on healthcare reform will narrow. I genuinely hope this is not your position," Cox wrote.

Key Republican legislators, including House Appropriations Committee chairman Chris Jones, R- Suffolk, and Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. "Tommy" Norment Jr. have said expanding access to health care will be a central concern of the General Assembly this year.

Republicans have for four years adamantly opposed the full Medicaid expansion called for by the federal Affordable Care Act, which would allow all Virginians, including able-bodied adults, with incomes before 133 percent of the federal poverty level to use Medicaid to cover their doctor, hospital and medication bills.

"I want to be clear that the 51-member House Republican Caucus has taken a binding caucus position against 'straightforward' Medicaid expansion," Cox wrote, adding:

"If your position is to pass straightforward Medicaid expansion without work requirements or other reforms, then you will be responsible for the failure to provide healthcare coverage to more Virginians."

Northam is waiting to see what the Rules Committee does, but "is encouraged that House Republicans are willing to begin the discussion about coverage expansion, though he believes the dialog should begin with connecting more Virginians with quality health care, not less," said spokeswoman Ofirah Yheskel. "He looks forward to working with the General Assembly on a plan that works for all Virginians."

The two bills to be discussed would require adult recipients of Medicaid to work for 20 hours a week, unless they are attending school, are the sole caregiver of a child under six or are unable to work because of a disability.

To do that, the bills would require the state to seek permission from the federal government, although neither proposes any expansion of Medicaid. The Trump administration has said it will allow states to impose work requirements.

Virginia currently does not allow able-bodied adults to sign up for Medicaid, except for low-income pregnant women for pre-natal care and delivery or extremely impoverished parents -- the cut-off for those parents is 30 percent of the federal poverty level, which translates to income of no more than $4,872 a year for a single parent of a single child.

Ress can be reached by telephone at 757-247-4535

___

(c)2018 the Daily Press (Newport News, Va.)

Visit the Daily Press (Newport News, Va.) at www.dailypress.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.