ATLANTA (AP) – The Biden administration’s decision to revoke approval of Georgia’s plan to require Medicaid recipients to meet a work requirement was jeered by top Republicans in the state but welcomed by Democrats as an opportunity for a bigger expansion of the health care program.
U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said Thursday that implementing the work requirement during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic would “only work to hinder the overall wellbeing of low-income Georgians.” The work provision was part of the state’s plan – dubbed “Georgia Pathways” – to make more low-income Georgians eligible for Medicaid.
“Considering the physical, mental, social and economic toll the public health emergency has taken on individuals, CMS believes it is especially important that the low-income individuals who are the intended beneficiaries of the Georgia Pathways to Coverage demonstration be able to access coverage and care without the initial and continued eligibility obstacle of a work requirement that may be unreasonably difficult or impossible for individuals to meet under the circumstances of COVID-19 and its likely aftermath,” she wrote in a letter to Georgia Department of Community Health Commissioner Caylee Noggle.
The work requirement had been approved by the Trump administration. CMS revoked it and Georgia’s plan to charge some Medicaid recipients monthly premiums for their health coverage.
Gov. Brian Kemp’s office in a statement Thursday accused the White House of attempting to “hide behind the holiday” by announcing the revocation two days before Christmas. It said it planned to challenge the decision in court.