Tennessee Looks to Reinstate SNAP Benefit Work Requirement

A Tennessee bill to reinstate a 20-hour-a-week work requirement for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is headed to the Senate.

Senate Bill 2071 would require able-bodied individuals between age 18 and 49 and without children to work, train or volunteer for 20 hours each week to receive benefits. The bill would be effective once it is signed into law. Work-requirement laws were waived during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to sponsoring Sen. Jack Johnson, R-Franklin.

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Georgia Sues Biden Administration over Rejecting Medicaid Work Requirement

Georgia has filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration for rejecting the work requirement and premium proposal in Gov. Brian Kemp’s partial Medicaid expansion plan.

The plan, called Georgia Pathways, was approved by the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in October 2020 under former President Donald Trump.

President Joe Biden’s CMS sent a letter to Georgia officials in December, rescinding the selected parts of the plan because they counteract with the objectives of the program.

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Federal Agency Approves Ohio Work Requirement for Medicaid

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved Ohio’s work rules for “able-bodied” recipients of Medicare Friday. Obamacare included a requirement that all 50 states expand Medicare eligibility to cover every individual whose income was up to 133 percent of the poverty line by January 1, 2014. In 2012, in a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court voted to uphold much of the law while ruling the Medicaid expansion requirement unconstitutional. They found that the federal government couldn’t force the states to expand Medicaid with the threat of withdrawing existing Medicaid funding. Instead, each state would have the option to voluntarily opt into the expansion or not. After months of deliberation, then-Ohio Governor John Kasich announced he would push to accept the expanded Medicaid in March of 2013. The once tea-party supported governor faced significant conservative pushback and criticism for accepting the expansion, most significantly for its high cost and potential government overreach. In 2017, Kasich added provisions to the Medicaid expansion, but stipulated that certain work requirements be met before “able-bodied” men could use the program. They had to work 20 hours a week, be actively looking for a job, receiving education or training, or engaged in community service. These measures, while supported in the state, received significant pushback from advocacy groups who…

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