The Biden administration has squelched a fledgling Ohio program requiring those in their prime working years receiving Medicaid health coverage to get a job to remain covered. Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, administrator of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMMS), on Wednesday withdrew approval of a pilot program the Trump administration had approved in March 2019 that would have required able-bodied Medicaid health insurance ages 19-50 to work unless they were attending school, getting job-training, taking care of family members, or doing other “community engagement” for least 80 hours per month in order to receive the medical benefits. Implementation of the program, set to begin in January had been put on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic. But Brooks-LaSure’s 23-page letter to the Ohio Department of Medicaid cited a litany of potential lingering effects of the pandemic as the reason for withdrawing the waiver granted 17 months ago altogether. “Uncertainty regarding the current crisis and the pandemic’s aftermath, and the potential impact on economic opportunities (including job skills training, work and other activities used to satisfy the community engagement requirement), and access to transportation and affordable child care, have greatly increased the risk that implementation…
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