Work requirements


The upcoming battle over Medicaid expansion in Montana this spring will probably focus on work or “community engagement” requirements, favored by Republicans as a condition for continuing the program covering 95,000 Montanans. Here are links to several articles and studies opposed to the work requirements for various reasons:
1) Work requirements could reduce enrollment in Medicaid expansion by a third. (Once Representative Buttrey’s bill has been introduced, legislative fiscal analysts will come up with their own estimate of how much it will cost to implement.)
2) Work requirements would disproportionately hurt rural Montanans.
3) Montana’s existing HELP-Link program meets workforce needs better than work requirements. 

Why are work requirements even being considered? In essence, it's a conservative theory adopted by the Trump administration, and urged upon states, that "sustained employment or other productive community engagement leads to improved health outcomes"  and that "Such programs may also, separately, be designed to help individuals and families rise out of poverty and attain independence." Here's more in-depth analysis by a health care think tank and by the American Bar Association.





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