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The new administration is moving swiftly on many approaches--including several we proposed--to address the needs of people with low incomes.
“There’s this notion that we let these programs wither when the economy is good even though there are so many people who are still struggling to find employment, and then there’s a major crisis and we have to start from scratch,” Elizabeth Lower-Basch, with the anti-poverty advocacy group Center for Law and Social Policy, said.
CLASP submitted comments opposing Georgia’s application for its section 1115 waiver that would allow it to apply work requirements as a condition of eligibility for Medicaid. The proposal would also limit its expansion of Medicaid and require individuals with incomes as low as 51 percent of the FPL to pay premiums.
New guidance and a waiver application package would allow states to convert a portion of their Medicaid programs to block grants. This would undermine Medicaid, worsen health, put state budgets at risk, and deepen the next recession.
CLASP submitted the following comments in opposition to the Social Security Administration’s proposal to increase the frequency with which people who have been determined eligible for disability benefits must submit paperwork to prove their continuing disability.
We anticipate 2020 will be another busy year for Medicaid waivers. States submitted several dangerous proposals to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) at the end of last year, and we’re awaiting the outcomes. Other bad waivers are scheduled to take effect in the coming months.
“We have an economy that is full of jobs that fill vital needs but are not paying very well and often do not provide health insurance,” says Elizabeth Lower-Basch, a labor expert at the Center for Law and Social Policy in Washington. “And so people get these supports from the government to supplement their work.”
Elizabeth Lower-Basch was quoted about the effects of work requirements.
Elizabeth Lower-Basch explains how the new criteria for the public charge rule will make it difficult for immigrants to rely on receiving benefits, calling it a "wealth test."
CLASP has developed key principles for universal health care coverage, focusing on people with low incomes and people of color.