While the green light for state applications to impose work requirements on their Medicaid recipients is receiving all of the attention, the Trump administration has issued guidance that appears to pave the way for other major changes in the Medicaid program as well.

Specifically, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has issued guidance that will enable states to pursue section 1115 waivers to test different ways of serving Medicaid patients that are otherwise not permitted under federal Medicaid law, including:

  • establishing time limits on how many months or years individuals may be enrolled in Medicaid;
  • locking out for a specified period of time Medicaid recipients who have not gone through annual eligibility redetermination or have failed to pay Medicaid premiums;
  • prohibiting hospitals from making presumptive eligibility determinations when they encounter new, low-income patients who are not enrolled in Medicaid at the time;
  • tightening their eligibility requirements;
  • excluding family planning providers like Planned Parenthood; and
  • establishing closed drug formularies for their Medicaid population.

Learn more about how the foundation has been laid for such changes if states are so inclined to pursue them and the implications of such changes if they are implemented in the article “State Waivers as a National Policy Lever:  The Trump Administration, Work Requirements, and Other Potential Reforms in Medicaid, which can be found here, on the Health Affairs Blog.