Michigan is ditching work requirements for able-bodied adults receiving Medicaid under legislation signed into law by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last week. The legislation, approved along party lines during Democrats’ lame duck session last year, repeals a requirement for able-bodied adults receiving Medicaid under the Healthy Michigan Plan to complete 20 hours of “workforce engagement” per week, effective April 2.
“The repeal of the burdensome work requirements provision is a win for Michiganders who cannot afford commercial health insurance,” bill sponsor Rep. Julie Rogers, D-Kalamazoo, said in a statement cited by the news outlet. “Medicaid is health care, period, and was never intended to be a jobs program.”
Republicans adopted the work requirement in 2018, but it was halted by a federal court within months. A federal judge ruled the requirement unlawful in 2020, despite exemptions for single parents taking care of children, pregnant mothers, people with disabilities, and others caring for young children or who have a medical condition. Beyond actual work, beneficiaries were able to fulfill the requirement with education, training, unpaid internships, substance use disorder treatment, and community service, as well.
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