President Trump signed a large budget reconciliation bill in July that included new work requirements for Medicaid. Federal Medicaid administrators are expected to send guidelines to state administrators sometime next month. State administrators and state legislators will then have fifteen months to write regulations, pass bills and get a program up and running before the end of next year.
Staff for the Utah Legislature's Social Services Appropriations Committee have estimated that these rules could lead to 24,900 Utahns being cut from Medicaid. Experts are not predicting that these people will all leave Medicaid because they obtain jobs with higher pay and health insurance benefits. Instead they are stating that the paperwork burdens for the program will be so onerous that people will lose benefits because they are unable to comply.
That is why FACE Hunger and Homelessnesss has invited the director of Utah's Medicaid Program, Jennifer Strohecker, to come and meet with us at First Unitarian Church on Wednesday, August 27, at noon. This event will be our first attempt to influence what options Utah takes in adopting these work requirements that the state is forcing us to adopt. Our core message for this meeting will be that Utah should use the simplest options, from a client perspective, when gathering information necessary to verify people's exemption from work requirements or participation in them, Here are two examples of how choosing the option that is simplest for the client is also the way the state can the most accurate information:
To help prepare for this conversation Crossroads Urban Center has conducted a survey in our food pantries to get information about difficulties our clients face submitting verifications for Medicaid and SNAP. We are hoping to release the results from that survey on Monday.
Staff for the Utah Legislature's Social Services Appropriations Committee have estimated that these rules could lead to 24,900 Utahns being cut from Medicaid. Experts are not predicting that these people will all leave Medicaid because they obtain jobs with higher pay and health insurance benefits. Instead they are stating that the paperwork burdens for the program will be so onerous that people will lose benefits because they are unable to comply.
That is why FACE Hunger and Homelessnesss has invited the director of Utah's Medicaid Program, Jennifer Strohecker, to come and meet with us at First Unitarian Church on Wednesday, August 27, at noon. This event will be our first attempt to influence what options Utah takes in adopting these work requirements that the state is forcing us to adopt. Our core message for this meeting will be that Utah should use the simplest options, from a client perspective, when gathering information necessary to verify people's exemption from work requirements or participation in them, Here are two examples of how choosing the option that is simplest for the client is also the way the state can the most accurate information:
- If Medicaid has been paying for someone's medications and treatments then Medicaid officials should use the information they already have to verify a person's exemption from work requirements instead of asking them to get their doctor or psychiatrist to fill out a form.
- If information collected by the state tax commission can verify someone is working then Medicaid officials should not make them ask their employer to fill out a form every month.
To help prepare for this conversation Crossroads Urban Center has conducted a survey in our food pantries to get information about difficulties our clients face submitting verifications for Medicaid and SNAP. We are hoping to release the results from that survey on Monday.
