(PartiallyPolitics.com) – Georgia is going to become the only state in the country that will set work requirements for Medicaid recipients. Depending on how the plan goes, it could function as a test case for whether other states should implement similar requirements ahead of the next Republican administration.
The new program is going to first be launched this weekend and it will require all able-bodied adults who had not previously qualified for Medicaid to join the program. This could mean that tens of thousands of additional residents might benefit from health care coverage that they previously did not have access to. However, in order to qualify for this coverage they would need to prove that they are either working or enrolled in job training or other activities for 80 hours per month.
Conservatives have been considering additional work requirements for Medicaid. However, the Biden administration has so far refused to approve any of the requests made by states thus far. If a Republican president comes in power then it is likely that they would approve similar requests.
The Trump administration had also set Medicaid work requirements as one of their priorities, approving 13 such programs. However, a federal judge ruled against two of those approvals in 2019, and the Biden administration struck down another 10.
House Republicans have once again revived the push for work requirements to be included in multiple federal programs. These additional requirements were also a key point in the debt ceiling negotiations that took place. However, the final debt ceiling legislation did not include any such requirements, with President Biden and the Democrats stating that this policy was a non-starter.
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