Attorney General:
Governor Should Request Waiver from Trump Administration
BATON ROUGE, LA – Following recently released guidance
from the Trump administration that allows for states to compel Medicaid
recipients to work or prepare for jobs in order to receive the welfare benefit,
Attorney General Jeff Landry is calling on Governor John Bel Edwards to impose
work requirements in Louisiana.
“I applaud the Trump Administration for granting states
more authority over Medicaid welfare work requirements,” said General Landry.
“This much-needed accountability measure will help reduce fraud, waste, and
abuse in the Medicaid system and save the precious resources for those truly in
need.”
In a letter to the states’ Medicaid directors, the Trump
Administration spells out safeguards that states should consider to obtain
federal approval for waivers imposing work requirements on non-disabled adults.
Landry says Edwards should not only heed the advice, but also file for such a
waiver.
“The Governor’s Medicaid welfare expansion has created
an urgent need to more aggressively fight Medicaid waste, fraud, and abuse,”
added General Landry. “So he should join the ten other states leading on this
issue and request a waiver.”
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The ten states that have already filed applications with
the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to add work requirements to
their Medicaid programs are Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky,
Maine, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Utah, and Wisconsin.
