Governor Matt Bevin of Kentucky, a Republican, announced in a news conference on Friday that Kentucky Medicaid recipients will have to either work or be in a jobs training program to continue receiving benefits. Bevin’s announcement comes just days after the Trump administration said it will allow states to impose work requirements for Medicaid recipients, as Fox News reported: “Our policy guidance was in response to states that asked us for the flexibility they need to improve their programs and to help people in achieving greater well-being and self-sufficiency,” Verma said, noting the agency has received demonstration project proposals from 10 states: Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Utah and Wisconsin. The test programs, according to CMS, could make work, “skills training, education, job search, volunteering or caregiving” a requirement for Medicaid for “able-bodied, working-age adults.” It would not apply to those getting benefits due to a “disability, elderly beneficiaries, children, and pregnant women.” Kentucky’s new work requirements mandate that able-bodied adult recipients participate in at least 80 hours of “employment activities,” (jobs training, education and community service) each month. “Kentucky’s waiver, submitted for federal approval in 2016, requires able-bodied adult recipients to participate in at least 80 hours a month of “employment activities,”…
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