News Release

Medicaid Waiver Requests in Wisconsin and Maine Seek to Impose Work Requirements and Time Limits for Beneficiaries

A new issue brief from the Kaiser Family Foundation highlights proposed changes to Medicaid programs in Wisconsin and Maine that include work requirements and time limits in both states, as well as drug screenings for some beneficiaries in Wisconsin. The waiver authority sought by both states would impose welfare-like restrictions and include a number of provisions that have never been approved for traditional, non-Medicaid expansion populations, such as locking beneficiaries out of coverage for failure to pay premiums.

Both states’ waiver proposals estimate less coverage and higher costs as a result of the waivers. The brief includes tables that summarize the key provisions of the proposed waivers for each state.

The requests from Wisconsin and Maine, which will be submitted to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, come at a time when the Trump Administration has signaled to states that the federal government would be open to considering waiver requests from states that want to redesign their Medicaid programs.

KFF Headquarters: 185 Berry St., Suite 2000, San Francisco, CA 94107 | Phone 650-854-9400
Washington Offices and Barbara Jordan Conference Center: 1330 G Street, NW, Washington, DC 20005 | Phone 202-347-5270

www.kff.org | Email Alerts: kff.org/email | facebook.com/KFF | twitter.com/kff

The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news, KFF is a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California.