(The Center Square) — New Hampshire lawmakers are advancing a Republican-backed plan that would require certain Medicaid recipients to work to receive the federally backed health care coverage.
The proposal, which passed the state Senate on a 16-8 party-line vote, would require that recipients of the New Hampshire Granite Advantage Health Care Program work in order to receive health care through the program, which is funded jointly by the state and the federal government. If approved, the bill will require the state to request a waiver from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to institute the work requirement.
Republicans who filed the bill argue that the Medicaid program is a safety net that should be used to help people get out of poverty, not to cover their medical costs indefinitely.
“We are a state that prides itself on work to support our families, independence, and self-sufficiency,” state Sen. Howard Pearl, R-Loudon, said in remarks on the Senate floor Thursday. “Medicaid and other welfare programs should be a bridge for non-aged, non-disabled adults, not a destination.”
Democrats oppose the plan, pointing to studies showing that work requirements for programs like food stamps and Medicaid don’t increase employment and often end up stripping people of benefits.
New Hampshire set work requirements for Medicaid recipients in 2019 after then-President Donald Trump authorized states to require the pre-conditions for coverage. But then-Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican, halted the plan after only about 8,000 of the estimated 25,000 eligible beneficiaries signed up to work.
Currently, an estimated 65% of the Medicaid recipients in New Hampshire are working, compared to a national rate of about 60%, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services.
Gov. Kelly Ayotte, a Republican sworn into office in January, is seeking to reduce the state Medicaid costs to help plug projected budget gaps. Her preliminary budget calls for charging some Medicaid recipients premiums, increasing pharmacy cost-sharing and other cost-cutting proposals.
Medicaid, which is jointly run by the state and federal government, provides health care coverage for 183,000 people in the state, according to federal data. The program covers medical costs for about 1 in every 5 births in New Hampshire and provides care for 2 of every 3 nursing home patients in the state.
In Congress, Republican lawmakers are pushing a plan requiring the federal government to cut up to $800 billion in “waste and fraud” from the Medicaid program to help pay for expanding President Donald Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
New Hampshire has a so-called trigger law, passed in 2018, that requires it to cut state funding for Medicaid if federal funding falls below 90% of the program’s cost.
