CLASP monitors requests from states to modify their Medicaid program through waivers. Here you will find CLASP’s comments to states and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), along with reports, briefs, and blogs that speak to Medicaid waivers.
States are increasingly using waiver requests seeking federal permission to change how they operate their safety-net programs. Recently, the waiver process has steered off course from its original intent, and states are increasingly using it as a mechanism to create barriers to basic needs programs.
“In non-expansion states the families we are talking about who would be subject to the work requirement are really the poorest families,” said Suzanne Wikle. “They are struggling to make ends meet on a daily basis.”
“All of these policies that we are seeing are inconsistent with the objectives of Medicaid. They don’t seem to seem to have a legal basis and, as such, our stance is that they should not be approved. And we will work very hard with our…
Time limit policies don’t promote health; they’re just a way for states to block people from coverage. If approved by CMS, they would have a profound negative impact on Medicaid recipients and their families.