Don't fall for the lies about the GOP's plan for Medicaid: We're actually STRENGTHENING it
President Donald Trump has asked Congress to follow through on his domestic-policy agenda by extending tax cuts for Americans, investing in our military and border security and cutting waste, fraud and abuse in entitlement spending, which threatens the solvency our nation's safety-net programs.
For my House Committee on Energy and Commerce, this meant hitting a 10-year savings target of $880 billion across our jurisdiction — energy, environment, telecommunications and health care — which I knew could only be reached through careful consideration and resolve.
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The committee came through, and then some: The most recent estimate from the Congressional Budget Office found that our efforts will save nearly $1.1 trillion.
More than a quarter of this amount, $344 billion, comes from new community-engagement rules (i.e., work requirements) for able-bodied adults who receive Medicaid benefits but choose not to work.
The rules will promote greater accountability and refocus Medicaid to better serve the most vulnerable.
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What exactly do these community-engagement requirements consist of?
If you're an able-bodied, unemployed adult who receives Medicaid, they ask that you demonstrate that you are either working, volunteering, in job training or in school for an average of 80 hours per month.
Health care and work are inextricably linked in this country: Nearly half of all Americans get their health insurance through their jobs, seniors get Medicare after years of contributing payroll taxes and members of our military and our veterans get their coverage through their service to our country.
To require Medicaid recipients who are able-bodied and unemployed to either work, go to school or volunteer in their communities in order to continue receiving subsidized health insurance should be a no brainer.
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You may have heard misinformation that work requirements are really just a sneaky way to take health care away from hard-working Americans, or even people with disabilities.
Let me set the record straight: This policy applies only to able-bodied, unemployed adults who have chosen not to work.
Our bill couldn't be clearer about that; it includes a long list of exempted individuals. For instance:
If you're pregnant, a member of a federally designated tribe, a caregiver or parent, under 19 or over 65, you're exempt from the requirements.
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You're exempt if you're medically frail, which includes anyone who's blind, disabled, battling a chronic substance-use disorder or living with a serious and complex medical condition like cancer.
If you meet work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps) or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (welfare), you're also relieved of the requirements.
If you're in jail, prison or were released from incarceration within the past 90 days, you're exempt.
And if you're a former foster youth under 26, the requirements don't apply.
Plainly, the policy is targeting just a subset of fully able adults who are voluntarily choosing not to work or give back to their communities.
There are strong grounds for this policy: A new study from the American Enterprise Institute found that able-bodied, unemployed adult Medicaid recipients without dependents average 6.1 hours a day — 184 hours a month — watching television and socializing.
That figure is 50% higher than for employed beneficiaries.
These individuals spend less than a combined one hour a day looking for work or caring for others.
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And we're only asking that, in return for their Medicaid coverage, they choose from an array of options — work, go to school or volunteer — for just 80 hours per month.
That's eminently reasonable, and can help them become more self-reliant and productive.
Note, too, that a sizable number — 38% of beneficiaries, per a new White House Council of Economic Advisors study — are able-bodied, working-age adults.
There's no good reason for them not to be contributing to their communities or at least on a path to becoming productive.
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Americans are smart enough not to fall for the false narratives, lies and smears against work requirements.
They share Republicans' desires to purge government programs of rampant waste, fraud and abuse.
Our requirements help do just that, strengthening Medicaid for those who truly need it.
Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) is chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
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