Work requirement for Medicaid advances in House

Despite hours of passionate testimony against it, a bill to require that some Medicaid recipients work in order to get their benefits moved forward late Tuesday.

Rep. Kelly Fenton (R-Woodbury) sponsors HF3722, which was approved on a 14-8 party-line vote by the House Health and Human Services Reform Committee and sent to the House Health and Human Services Finance Committee.

The bill would only apply to "able-bodied adults" between the ages of 18 and 60 who are not the sole caregiver of a child or “incapacitated” family member. Pregnant mothers and the medically frail would also be exempt.

House Speaker Kurt Daudt (R-Crown) joined Fenton in a press conference March 12 unveiling the work requirement proposal.

The division between bill opponents and supporters was drawn largely from the debate over the merits of the Medicaid program itself: either Medicaid benefits provide a base to help people find work or the program encourages them not to seek work in the first place.

Speaking in favor of Fenton’s bill, former welfare recipient AK Kamara said work restores dignity to those who have been ill. The existence of benefits without work requirements, however, encourages a cycle of dependence, he said.

Jason Flohrs, state director of the Minnesota chapter of Americans for Prosperity, said an “explosion” in enrollment has fostered problems for government and taxpayers. Current eligibility requirements remove the incentive to work and learn, he said, adding Fenton’s bill is a good initial step to correct the situation.

However, supporters were drowned out by the sheer volume of those opposed to adding Minnesota to the list of states with work requirements for Medicaid.

Rep. Joe Schomacker (R-Luverne), the committee chair, initially sought to limit testimony against to bill to about 20 minutes, the same amount of time proponents had taken up. But he changed course and allowed all opponents to testify.

A work requirement would sever mentally ill people from their benefits, since the nature of mental illness often leads to fluidity in a person’s ability to work, said Sue Abderholden, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

A letter from Laura Hermer, a law professor at Mitchell Hamline School of Law, said the bill is predicated on the assumption that Medical Assistance users should work – but most of them already do work. She cited a study from the Kaiser Family Foundation that found nearly two-thirds of working-age Medicaid beneficiaries are working, and most of the rest are either disabled, caring for family, or students.

“To make the working poor either go without coverage or be treated like untrustworthy freeloaders in order to obtain and keep coverage is simply unethical,” Hermer wrote. “As Minnesotans, we can do better than that.”

The Senate companion, SF3611, is sponsored by Sen. Mark Johnson (R-East Grand Forks) and awaits action by the Senate Health and Human Services Finance and Policy Committee.