FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

January 11, 2018

Contact: Sarah Schultz, sarah.schultz@younginvincibles.org, 202.734.6510

CMS Reverses Longstanding Position on Medicaid Work Requirements, Putting Hundreds of Thousands of Vulnerable Young Adults at Risk of Losing Health Coverage

[WASHINGTON]–Today, the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) announced that states may now restrict Medicaid coverage for individuals based on their employment status or participation in work-related activities. This unprecedented reversal in longstanding policy may jeopardize health coverage of hundreds of thousands of young adults who are insured through Medicaid, and goes against the fundamental purpose of the Medicaid program – to promote health insurance coverage for low-income vulnerable populations. In response to CMS’s announcement today, Young Invincibles Strategic Campaigns Director Colin Seeberger issued this statement:

“Subjecting young people on Medicaid to punitive work requirements is a direct attack on the most vulnerable and undercuts the very purpose of the program. The ACA’s Medicaid expansion has helped roughly 4 million young adults access coverage. More than 60% of young adults on Medicaid are already working, and the vast majority of others are in school, caregiving, ill, or disabled. Contrary to what the Administration suggests, implementing work requirements would do little to increase employment. Erecting arbitrary barriers to coverage will make it more difficult, not less, for individuals who require care to work. This move is just the latest attempt by the Trump Administration to undermine access to coverage. But don’t be fooled, states that adopt work requirements will join the Administration in owning the coverage losses that they force on their residents.”

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