Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T09:27:48.108Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Medicaid, Work, and the Courts: Reigning in HHS Overreach

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Sidney D. Watson
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Work requirements are the centerpiece of HHS's Trump Administration strategy to undo the ACA expansion for low income working age adults. This article examines the June 29, 2018 trial court opinion in Stewart v. Azar which held that HHS's approval of Kentucky's Section 1115 work demonstration was “arbitrary and capricious.” The purpose of Medicaid is to provide health coverage and HHS may not ignore the loss of coverage that will result from a work requirement.

Type
Symposium Articles
Information
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics , Volume 46 , Issue 4: Next Steps in Health Reform , Winter 2018 , pp. 887 - 891
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 2018

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Complaint at 53-54, Stewart v. Azar, 313 F.Supp.3d 237 (DD.C. 2018).Google Scholar
Nat’l Fed’n of Indep. Bus. v. Sebelius, 132 S.Ct. 2566, 2605-06 (2012).Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Price, T. E., Secretary, and Verma, S., CMS Administrator, Health and Human Services, Letter to the Nation's Governors (March 14, 2017), available at <https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/sec-price-admin-verma-ltr.pdf> (last visited October 26, 2018). (last visited October 26, 2018).' href=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Price,+T.+E.,+Secretary,+and+Verma,+S.,+CMS+Administrator,+Health+and+Human+Services,+Letter+to+the+Nation's+Governors+(March+14,+2017),+available+at++(last+visited+October+26,+2018).>Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Id. at 2.Google Scholar
Neale, B., Director, Center for Medicaid and Chip Services, State Medicaid Director Letter (January 11, 2018), available at <https://www.medicaid.gov/federal-policy-guidance/downloads/smd18002.pdf> (last visited October 26, 2018).+(last+visited+October+26,+2018).>Google Scholar
Musumeci, M., Rodowitz, R., and Hinton, E., “Approved Changes to Medicaid in Kentucky,” Kaiser Family Foundation, January 17, 2018, available at <https://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-brief/approved-changes-to-medicaid-in-kentucky/> (Last visited October 26, 2018).+(Last+visited+October+26,+2018).>Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
See Garfield, R., Rudowitz, R., Musumeci, M., and Damico, A., “Implications of Work Requirements in Medicaid: What Does the Data Say?” Kaiser Family Foundation, June 12, 2018, available at <http://files.kff.org/attachment/Issue-Brief-Implications-of-Work-Requirements-in-Medicaid-What-Does-the-Data-Say> (Last visited October 26, 2018).+(Last+visited+October+26,+2018).>Google Scholar
See Musumeci, M. and Zur, J., “Medicaid Enrollees and Work Requirements: Lessons From the TANF Experience, Kaiser Family Foundation,” August 13, 2017, available at <http://files.kff.org/attachment/Issue-Brief-Medicaid-Enrollees-and-Work-Requirements> (Last visited October 26, 2018).+(Last+visited+October+26,+2018).>Google Scholar
Stewart, 313 F.Supp.3d at 247.Google Scholar
Garfield, M., Rudowitz, R., Musumeci, M., and Damico, A., supra note 11.Google Scholar
See Brief for Deans, Chairs and Scholars at 17-19, Stewart, 2018 WL 3203384.Google Scholar
National Health Law Program, “Kentuckians Sue Trump Over Radical Changes to Medicaid,” January 24, 2018, available at <http://www.healthlaw.org/news/press-releases/698-kentuckians-sue-trump-over-radical-changes-to-medicaid> (Last visited October 26, 2018).+(Last+visited+October+26,+2018).>Google Scholar
Stewart, 313 F.Supp.3d at 243.Google Scholar
Id. at 8.Google Scholar
Id. at 23.Google Scholar
Id. at 23.Google Scholar
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, KY Health Section 1115 Demonstration, Waiver List, (Jan. 12, 2018) at 3-5, available at <https://www.medicaid.gov/Medicaid-CHIP-Program-Information/By-Topics/Waivers/1115/downloads/ky/health/ky-health-cms-appvl-011218.pdf> (last visited October 26, 2018).+(last+visited+October+26,+2018).>Google Scholar
Stewart, 313 F.Supp.3d at 25C.Google Scholar
Id. at 17 quoting Social Security Act, §1115, 42 U.S.C. §1315 (1935).Google Scholar
Id. at 17-18.Google Scholar
Id. at 19.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
See Plaintiffs’ Memorandum in Support of Motion for Summary Judgment at 13-15, 18-21, 313 F.Supp.3d237; See also, Watson, S.D., “Out of the Black Box and into the Light: Using Section 1115 Medicaid Waivers to Implement the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid Expansion,” Yale Journal of Health Policy, Law, and Ethics 15, no. 12 (2015): 213–232, at 227.Google Scholar
Stewart, 313 F.Supp.3d at 266.Google Scholar
Id. at 26-27.Google Scholar
Id. at 27.Google Scholar
Id. at 22; See 42 U.S.C. §1396a(a).Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Id. at 27Google Scholar
Id. at 34.Google Scholar
Id. at 30.Google Scholar
Id. at 29.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Id. at 23.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar