Trump admin. signals states can tie Medicaid to work

The Trump administration said Tuesday it will encourage states to push people on Medicaid to find jobs, accusing President Obama of “stretching the safety net” by lumping able-bodied enrollees into the program and ignoring suggestions for how to wean people off the government dole.

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma said President Trump supports ideas designed to get people to “move up, move on, and move out” of the program, which is jointly funded by the federal government and states.

“Believing that community engagement requirements do not support or promote the objectives of Medicaid is a tragic example of the soft bigotry of low expectations consistently espoused by the prior administration. Those days are over,” Ms. Verma told the National Association of Medicaid Directors.

She defined community engagement as working, volunteering, going to school or obtaining job training.