Ohio Medicaid director says Group 8 work‑requirement request submitted to CMS; department estimates about 800,000 could meet new eligibility criteria

Director Corcoran, director of the Ohio Department of Medicaid, told the Joint Medicaid Oversight Committee that the department submitted the Group 8 eligibility request required by House Bill 33 to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on the timeline set by the Legislature.

Corcoran said the department’s best estimate, based on data pulled in December, is that about "the total population's about 800,000" Ohioans (roughly 799,000) would meet the Group 8 eligibility criteria under the proposal. He said approximately 41 percent of that group were already working (including those at 10–20 hours weekly), about 12.6 percent have severe chronic conditions or serious mental illness, and roughly 27 percent would require additional individualized assessment because administrative data alone is insufficient to determine whether they meet the new criteria.

Why it matters: House Bill 33 requires the department to set new eligibility limits for Group 8 (the adult expansion population), and the department’s estimates inform county assessment workload, IT changes, managed‑care planning and the state budget. Corcoran told the panel his team is proceeding while CMS’s federal comment period is open; CMS’s comment window, he said, runs through April 7 and the department will begin formal discussions after that.

Corcoran…