On January 11, 2018, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a State Medicaid Director Letter providing new guidance for Section 1115 waiver proposals that would impose work requirements (referred to as community engagement) in Medicaid as a condition of eligibility. The guidance describes the potential scope of requirements that could be approved and presents the case for how these policies promote the objectives of the Medicaid program. This action reverses previous Democratic and Republican Administrations, which had not approved such waiver requests on the basis that such provisions would not further the program's purposes of promoting health coverage and access. The guidance asserts that such provisions would promote program objectives by helping states "in their efforts to improve Medicaid enrollee health and well-being through incentivizing work and community engagement." The guidance invites proposals that are "designed to promote better mental, physical, and emotional health. . . [or] separately. . . help individuals and families rise out of poverty and attain independence."
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