Trump and GOP Prepare Medicaid Changes To Push Tens of Thousands Off Coverage

Trump and Republicans are readying a new round of awful Medicaid changes intended to take coverage away from as many people as possible.

The Trump administration is preparing to let conservative-led states impose additional restrictions on the nation’s health program for the poor that could push tens of thousands of people off coverage.  The changes, involving work requirements and questions about illegal drug use, have been.... the latest chapter of the GOP’s long-running efforts to reshape Medicaid....

States set conditions of Medicaid eligibility with federal approval, and the Trump administration is seen as a boon to conservative states which have long sought to pare Medicaid spending.

....expected to sign off soon on work requirements in three more states — Arizona, Wisconsin and Maine — while approving limited drug testing questions sought by Wisconsin’s GOP Gov. Scott Walker. 

HHS and Justice Department officials are additionally finalizing the Medicaid work requirements sought by Maine...Republican Gov. Paul LePage has refused to implement a voter-approved Medicaid expansion.

So devious are the Republican efforts that they're methodically setting this up with the JUSTICE Department in hopes of avoiding lawsuits blocking it.

The goal is to make the latest Medicaid changes withstand simultaneous legal challenges, similar to those targeting early versions of President Donald Trump’s travel ban, according to officials familiar with the process.  And they are moving forward even after a federal judge blocked Kentucky’s work requirement in June.

“Everything’s being steered through the Justice Department right now,” said one official. “They’re trying to make it bulletproof.”

An additional aspect of this is the involvement of Native Americans:

An attempt by Arizona to protect Native Americans from work requirements is also expected to be denied as part of the review — a move that effectively reiterates the administration's position that members of tribes might need to get jobs to keep their health care.... 

We must continue to support groups who fight this.

Advocacy groups have sued to stop Medicaid work requirements in both states and threaten further litigation if more changes are OK'd.

Advocates say the result will be disastrous for poor and working-class Americans.

Kentucky's projection that 95,000 people would lose coverage influenced the judge's decision to block its overhaul.

“The Trump administration seems intent on moving as quickly as possible to approve these harmful waivers which will clearly result in many more thousands of vulnerable people losing their Medicaid coverage,” said Joan Alker, who runs Georgetown University's Center for Children and Families.

Source: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/16/medicaid-changes-trump-work-drug-use-741890