WKSU Stories

Ohio Could Enforce Work Requirements for Medicaid Expansion

Ideastream Public Media | By Brandon Bounds

Published March 28, 2019 at 8:13 PM EDT

The state Medicaid program will have to assess more than 100,000 people on Medicaid expansion to determine if they will be required to work 20 hours a week.

Ohio could soon be imposing work requirements for Medicaid expansion recipients, but a nonprofit law firm thinks it might not be worth it.

If imposed, recipients would have to work at least 20 hours per week, unless they are older than 50 years old, are caregivers, or are disabled.

Steven McGarrity, executive director at Community Legal Aid in Akron, says the law firm is reaching out to residents in eight counties, including Portage and Summit, about the work requirements.

“Most people are indicating that they are either already working, or they described their situation so that we know they would be exempt from the work requirement,” he said.

The Ohio Department of Medicaid estimates that 58 percent of the 639,000 people under the expansion are already working.

The state also estimates 18,000 recipients could lose their benefits under the work requirement.