​Trump Admin., GOP Governors Quietly Revolutionizing Medicaid

The Trump administration and Republican governors are quietly using existing policy mechanisms to rein in Medicaid without any action required from Congress, Axios reports.

State's efforts to expand Medicaid requirements, via a liberal use of seeking and receiving waivers from federal requirements, will certainly result in cutting the program's rolls by tens of thousands, Axios reports.

Those three main actions taken by states so far, Axios reports:

• Work requirements have been added to Medicaid programs, an effort first piloted by Kentucky.
• Imposing or increasing premiums for coverage.
• "Imposing new procedural obstacles" vis-à-vis paperwork proving employment, and more paperwork to restart coverage that may have lapsed.

It's expected that more states will implement restrictions, and it's expected that new waivers will be granted by the feds for new restrictions, Axios reports.

"Really, there are a number of states that are looking to impose some of these policies to non-expansion populations," Robin Rudowitz, a Medicaid expert at the Kaiser Family Foundation, told Axios.

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