Ohio Senate committee backs resolution urging presidential support for Medicaid work requirements

The Ohio Senate Medicaid Committee voted to favorably report Senate Concurrent Resolution 5 on a party-line motion, referring the resolution to the Senate Committee on Rules and Reference after testimony and questioning about Ohio’s proposed Medicaid work requirements and the federal waiver process.

The resolution urges the president and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to approve Ohio’s request to require certain adults in the state’s Medicaid expansion population to meet work or activity criteria to maintain eligibility. The committee considered testimony from policy advocates, hunger-relief officials, conservative advocates and Maureen Corcoran, director of the Ohio Department of Medicaid.

Why it matters: The resolution supports a waiver that, if approved by CMS, would change eligibility rules for Ohio’s Medicaid expansion population (commonly called “group 8”), potentially affecting tens of thousands of enrollees and triggering new administrative steps for renewals and documentation.

Reyes Hedderman Jr., vice president for policy at the Buckeye Institute, told the committee that expanding eligibility under the Affordable Care Act reduced labor supply and that applying work or activity requirements could increase work hours and lifetime earnings for some enrollees. "Medicaid income eligibility creates an incentive to reduce work in order to remain eligible for Medicaid," Hedderman said, citing national and state-level academic studies and Congressional Budget Office analysis.

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