County agency: new federal law expands SNAP and Medicaid work requirements; local staff brace for more cases

Debbie Kiley, director of Job and Family Services, told the Medina County commissioners that federal HR 1 expands work requirements for SNAP recipients and will soon change county casework demands.

"The law requires anyone who's now 18 to 64. It used to be 18 to 50. They've now moved it to 64 years old. They have to complete an activity of at least 20 hours per week in order to continue to receive their SNAP benefits," Kiley said, describing the new activity options that can include employment, education, community service, or engagement with OhioMeansJobs.

Kiley said the state provided a list of the newly required recipients and that Medina County is looking at about 300 additional SNAP cases that will be mandatory to assign and monitor. She said staff must review each case, assign activities, and then track monthly reports of participation; if recipients do not comply, benefits can be limited to three months out of 36 and then terminated by the system automatically.

Kiley also briefed the board about Medicaid work requirement language in HR 1. She said the state had previously sought a CMS waiver to pilot Medicaid work requirements, but HR 1 makes the requirement federally mandated in the future; she said Ohio plans to move forward with the Medicaid requirement effective January 2027, though county administrative funding is not guaranteed. She noted CMS announced approximately $6,000,000 available to states to fund vendors to implement Medicaid work requirements, and the state appears to be exploring that option.

Commissioners asked about staffing impacts and outreach; Kiley said JFS has coordinated with OhioMeansJobs to share lists and that the agency will increase review cadence from annual to every six months for affected recipients.

The board took no formal vote on this item; the report was informational and flagged as a workload and resource issue for county staff.