Work requirements and red tape ahead for millions on Medicaid
Now that the Republicans’ big tax-and-spending bill has become law, new bureaucratic hurdles have emerged for millions of Americans who rely on Medicaid for health coverage. A provision in the new law dictates that, in most states, for the first time, low-income adults must start meeting work requirements to keep their coverage.
Some states have already tried doing this, but Georgia is the only state that has an active system using work requirements to establish Medicaid eligibility — and recipients must report to the system once a month.
When she first started using the system, Tanisha Corporal, a social worker in Atlanta, wasn’t opposed to work requirements — in principle.
But when she left her job at a faith-based nonprofit to start her own project, the Be Well Black Girl Initiative she needed health coverage. She soon came face-to-face with how daunting it can be to prove you are meeting the state’s work requirements.
“I would have never thought that I was going to run into the challenges that I did, with trying to get approved, because I’m like, I know the process,” Corporal said. “I’ve been in human services.”
Corporal has been a social worker for more than two decades in Georgia and was familiar with the state’s social service programs. For years, it had been her job to help others access benefit programs.
But her challenges with paperwork and the process had only begun.
Health advocates point to Georgia’s system as a sign that the new law will lead to excessive red tape, improper denials, and lost health coverage.
Beginning in 2027, the law will require adults on Medicaid who are under 65 to report how they engaged in at least 80 hours per month of work, education, or volunteer activities. Alternatively, these adults could submit documentation showing they qualify for an exemption, such as being a full-time caregiver.
Most states will have to set up verification systems similar to Georgia’s, which can be expensive to implement and run. In the two years since launching its program, Georgia has spent more than $91 million in state and federal funds, according to state data. More than $50 million of that was spent on building and operating the eligibility reporting system. Right now, just under 7,500 people are enrolled in Georgia.
For Corporal, 48, forgoing coverage wasn’t an option. She had been diagnosed with pre-diabetes and had other medical concerns.
“I have breast cancer in my family history,” she said. “So it was like, I gotta get my mammograms.”
On paper, it looked as if she qualified for Georgia’s program, called Georgia Pathways to Coverage.
It offers Medicaid to adults — who otherwise wouldn’t qualify for traditional Medicaid in Georgia — with incomes up to the federal poverty level ($15,650 per year for an individual, or $26,650 per year for a family of three), as long as they can show that for at least 80 hours a month they’re working, attending school, training for a job, or volunteering.
Corporal was eager to apply. She was already volunteering at least that much, including with the nonprofit Focused Community Strategies., and helping with other South Atlanta community improvement efforts.
She gathered up the various documents and forms needed to verify her duties and volunteer hours, then submitted them through Georgia’s online portal.
“And we were denied. I was like, this makes no sense,” said Corporal, who has a master’s degree in social work. “I did everything right.”
In the end, it took eight months fighting to prove that she and her son, a full-time college student in Georgia, qualified for Medicaid. She repeatedly uploaded their documents, only for them to bounce back or seemingly disappear into the portal. She went through numerous rounds of denials and appeals.
