Indiana Medicaid Recipients

IncSmart Indiana (Small Business and Startups) - Indiana might become the first state to require work for Medicaid recipients.  There are five other states pursuing the same goals.  They include Kentucky, Arizona, Arkansas, Wisconsin and Maine.  The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service,  a federal agency within the US Department of Health and Human Services, has give permission to states that want to experiment with work requirements for able bodied recipients.  Indiana estimates 33,000 will choose not to participate. 

The Affordable Care Act, that Congress is currently debating, is deciding on whether to give states more leeway in running their Medicaid.  The state run Medicaid program may receive less funding.  The new regulations are very consistent with the state food stamp program, called SNAP, and other welfare programs.  The SNAP regulations have been very successful.  The new requirement would not apply to pregnant women, substance abuse patients, the medically frail and those older than 60.