CMS issued an interim final rule Monday outlining implementation rules for new Medicaid work requirements, and health organizations seemed none too happy with it.
"Most adults covered by Medicaid are already working, caregiving, or would not be subject to this policy due to illness or disability," Jan Carney, MD, MPH, president of the American College of Physicians, said in a statement. "Research shows us that instituting work requirements will not meaningfully increase employment. [Work] requirements create a tangle of red tape that diverts resources away from patient care and worsens the administrative burden on physicians ... Instituting work requirements for the program could lead to millions of individuals losing healthcare coverage, putting at risk their health, financial security, and lives."
"The new restrictions link the definition of medical frailty to a person's ability to work," Lisa Lacasse, president of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, said in a statement. "This would mean cancer patients and survivors who are suffering from debilitating side effects of the disease or treatment would have to officially prove they can't work, in a process that is likely to be difficult and take a long time. Cancer patients who can still work -- and many want to, for example, when they are well enough to work in between chemo rounds -- will have to choose between losing their Medicaid coverage, working the required 80 hours per month, or giving up working altogether to qualify for an exemption."
