Commonwealth Fund Analysis Shows how Disastrous the Medicaid Work Requirement Would be, Given the Opioid Crisis
The first state waiver is likely to be from Kentucky — a state that has benefited enormously from Medicaid coverage for people facing opioid addiction. The state has one of the highest rates of overdose deaths in the country, and its Medicaid spending on prescriptions for opioid use disorders jumped 326 percent from 2011 to 2016, to $64 million.
Kentucky also anticipates the most drastic drop in Medicaid enrollment out of the 10 states with pending work requirement waivers, according to an analysis by the Commonwealth Fund. The state predicts that a full 15 percent of its Medicaid beneficiaries will lose their coverage within five years of the waiver’s implementation...