Bill Text: NJ SCR101 | 2018-2019 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Condemns the federal government's decision to allow states to impose work requirements on certain Medicaid recipients.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-02-26 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee [SCR101 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2018-SCR101-Introduced.html
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION No. 101
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
218th LEGISLATURE
INTRODUCED FEBRUARY 26, 2018
Sponsored by:
Senator JOSEPH P. CRYAN
District 20 (Union)
SYNOPSIS
Condemns the federal government's decision to allow states to impose work requirements on certain Medicaid recipients.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
A Concurrent Resolution condemning the Trump administration's decision to permit states to impose work requirements as a condition of eligibility for Medicaid.
Whereas, In January 2018, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced that states may impose work or community engagement requirements for non-elderly, non-pregnant adult Medicaid beneficiaries who are eligible for benefits on a basis other than disability, representing a major policy shift for Medicaid, which is the public health insurance program for low-income Americans, funded jointly by the federal government and the states; and
Whereas, Medicaid serves about 74 million people nationwide, of which eight million are adults who are not employed, and about one-third of those eight million describe themselves as persons with disabilities, with another one-third identifying themselves as a caregiver for a family member; and
Whereas, Individuals with disabilities and the elderly comprise just under one-quarter of the Medicaid population, and the health care required by those groups accounts for 63 percent of all Medicaid costs; and
Whereas, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act included federal financial assistance to those states that chose to participate in the Medicaid expansion by paying 100 percent of the cost for newly eligible enrollees until 2017, at which time the federal contribution gradually declines to 90 percent; and
Whereas, New Jersey joined 30 other states and the District of Columbia in expanding their Medicaid programs to provide health insurance for millions of Americans, and as of December 2017, 20 percent of New Jersey residents were enrolled in NJ FamilyCare, the State's Medicaid expansion program; and
Whereas, Some observers have opined that the decision to allow states to include work requirements in their Medicaid programs is simply another means to undermine and reverse certain achievements of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; and
Whereas, The vast majority of Medicaid recipients are already working, so a program that requires able-bodied individuals to work in order to be eligible for health coverage through Medicaid ignores the economic and labor realities of this country; and
Whereas, Structural unemployment, full-time employment in low-wage industries such as retail and food service, or the lack of a college education mean that many working families have incomes that make them eligible for Medicaid, and requiring work or community engagement as a condition of health coverage through Medicaid is punitive, and contrary to what its proponents claim, will not make Medicaid recipients healthier; and
Whereas, The incidence of diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, and other serious chronic illness in the United States' population is well documented, and to require a Medicaid recipient to work when that individual may be suffering from an undiagnosed chronic health condition, could potentially and perversely cause the individual to lose his or her Medicaid coverage should he or she become ill and then be unable to work, rendering the individual unable to obtain ongoing medical treatment, and thereby worsening their health; and
Whereas, It is fitting and appropriate that the Legislature of this State condemns the federal government's decision to allow states to include a work requirement in their Medicaid programs because such requirements are counter to the very intent of the Medicaid program, are punitive, and could actually result in worsened health for many Medicaid recipients in those states that choose to make work a requirement for Medicaid eligibility; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of New Jersey (the General Assembly concurring):
1. The Legislature of this State condemns the Trump administration's decision to allow states to include a work requirement for certain able-bodied adults as a condition of eligibility for Medicaid.
2. Copies of this Resolution, as filed with the Secretary of State, shall be transmitted by the Clerk of the General Assembly or the Secretary of the Senate to the President of the United States, the Vice President of the United States, and the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
STATEMENT
This concurrent resolution condemns the Trump administration's decision to allow states to include a work requirement as a condition of eligibility for Medicaid. In January 2018, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced that states may impose work or community engagement requirements for non-elderly, non-pregnant adult Medicaid beneficiaries who are eligible for benefits on a basis other than disability, representing a major policy shift for Medicaid, which is the public health insurance program for low-income Americans, funded jointly by the federal government and the states.
Medicaid serves about 74 million people nationwide, of which eight million are adults who are not employed, and about one-third of those eight million describe themselves as individuals with disabilities, with another one-third identifying themselves as a caregiver for a family member. New Jersey joined 30 other states and the District of Columbia in expanding their Medicaid programs to provide health insurance for millions of Americans, and as of December 2017, 20 percent of New Jersey residents were enrolled in NJ FamilyCare, the State's Medicaid expansion program.
Some observers have opined that the decision to allow states to include work requirements in their Medicaid programs is simply another means to undermine and reverse certain achievements of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The vast majority of Medicaid recipients are already working, so a program that requires able-bodied individuals to work in order to be eligible for health coverage under Medicaid ignores the economic and labor realities of this country, is counter to the very intent of the Medicaid program, is punitive, and could actually result in worsened health for many Medicaid recipients in states that choose to make work a requirement for Medicaid eligibility.
