PA House OKs Work Requirements For Healthy Medicaid Recipients

By Dave Lemery | Watchdog.org

After a lengthy debate spread out over the course of two days, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives has passed legislation that requires some individuals collecting Medicaid benefits to adhere to a set of work requirements or risk losing those benefits.

State Rep. Matthew Dowling’s bill carves out quite a few exceptions to the work requirements for Medicaid recipients, including for:

• Pregnant women
• Full-time high school students
• Anyone currently receiving temporary or permanent long-term disability benefits
• Seniors older than 65 or anyone younger than 19
• Anyone who is the primary caregiver of a child younger than 6 or someone who is permanently disabled or in hospice care
• Anyone who is living in a mental health institution or correctional institution
• Anyone who receives Supplemental Security Income benefits
• Anyone experiencing a crisis, serious medical condition or temporary condition that prevents them from seeking employment, including but not limited to domestic violence or a substance use disorder.

Only individuals who meet none of those conditions would fall under the work requirements, which are to either work 20 hours a week or take part in 12 job training program-related activities each week.

Despite the list of groups carved out, opponents of the legislation insisted repeatedly during floor debate this week that it was an assault on the needy, seniors and people experiencing difficult life obstacles. Some worried that the cost to implement the bill was unknown, while others cited an estimate from Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration claiming that it would cost Pennsylvania $800 million.

Proponents, on the other hand, hailed it as a way to spark economic growth by adding a wave of Pennsylvanians to the ranks of the employed, not to mention making those individuals’ lives significantly better by giving them something to be proud of rather than simply subsisting on government benefits.

“We have a choice here today,” said Appropriations Committee Chairman Stan Saylor, R-Red Lion. “We can promote a pathway to a better life for Pennsylvanians, or we can simply keep the status quo of keeping individuals locked into a cycle of poverty. This bill helps create a better life for people in Pennsylvania.”

Saylor described the administration’s estimates for the cost of the program as “laughable” and “untruthful,” inflated merely to frighten legislators into voting against the proposal.

Rep. Ed Gainey, D-Pittsburgh, implied that the bill was just about getting people off Medicaid at any cost.

“This is a bad bill,” he said. “This is not a workforce development bill. This is not a community development bill. This is a bill that provides us the opportunity to put people off of health coverage, and I think that’s a problem.”

Dowling, a Republican from Uniontown, insisted that fulfilling the work requirements would make the lives of Medicaid recipients better.

“This bill is at ensuring the government funds, which are taxpayer dollars paid by hardworking Pennsylvania families … are available to those who truly need them,” he said. “I, like every other member of this chamber … want to see Pennsylvanians living prosperously in fulfilling lives. But this will not happen when they’re dependent on the government. A part-time work requirement is critical to helping individuals obtain a higher quality of life.”

The bill passed, 115-80, on a largely party line vote, with only five Republicans voting against and four Democrats voting in favor. It goes to the Senate next for consideration.

The nonprofit Commonwealth Foundation, which advocates for free-market solutions to improve Pennsylvania’s economy, praised the House’s passage of HB2138.

“Work is the most effective way to alleviate poverty,” said Nathan Benefield, vice president and COO for the Commonwealth Foundation. “But our broken Medicaid system discourages work rather than promoting it. This legislation is a major step towards creating a clear and permanent pathway to independence for thousands of Pennsylvanians.”