Pa. Senate approves bill with Medicaid work requirement
Photo by AP Photo/Matt Rourke
The Pennsylvania Capitol building in Harrisburg, Pa., Monday, July 10, 2017.
(Harrisburg) — By a 35-15 vote, the state Senate has passed a plan to require many Pennsylvanians on Medicaid to prove they’re either working or looking for work.
Here are the votes on the Medicaid work requirements bill in the Pa. Senate
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— Ben Allen (@BenAllenWITF) July 27, 2017
The federal government has never approved such a mandate for the program.
National surveys show about 60 percent of Medicaid recipients are working, others are either in school or taking care of family, and about 10 percent don’t have a job.
Older people, people with disabilities, and pregnant women would be excluded from the requirement. But people going to college or trade school could also be forced to get a job or be kicked off of Medicaid under the current legislation.
Republican Rep. Seth Grove of York County, who proposed a similar bill earlier this year, says the mandate is common sense.
“I don’t think it’s ridiculous to ask people, if they’re capable of working, to get a job to get taxpayer-funded benefits moving forward,” says Grove.
“I don’t think it’s another layer, it’s an extension of integrity checks that are already done within the Department of Human Services. It should be very easy for them to take what they already do for other programs and extend it over to Medicaid,” he adds.
But advocates take issue with Grove’s reasoning.
“There just aren’t that many cost savings to be found from a work requirement, especially when you look at how expensive it’s going to be to implement,” says Kristen Dama, with the group Community Legal Services of Philadelphia.
Most of the Medicaid spending in Pennsylvania goes to older people, or people with disabilities.
Dama adds that Medicaid helps people with chronic diseases like diabetes or substance use disorder receive the care they need to get into working shape.
“There’s a bit of a chicken and egg situation, where Medicaid is really necessary not just to keep people employed, but to also get employed,” says Dama.
The House has to approve the Senate’s changes before it goes to Governor Tom Wolf.
His office says he opposes the plan, but wouldn’t directly address whether he would veto it.
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