“Cutting Medicaid and SNAP Red Tape During the Pandemic,” by Suzanne Wikle, CLASP

 

“Under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) passed in March 2020, states were given additional federal dollars for Medicaid. But in exchange, they had to commit to not cutting people off Medicaid (with few exceptions for voluntary disenrollment, a move out of state, and death) for the duration of the Covid-19  public health emergency. March 18 marked the one-year anniversary of this provision, known as the Medicaid maintenance of effort (MOE) requirement. States were also provided several administrative flexibilities, such as increasing the use of presumptive eligibility and self-attestation.”

LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform:

This pro-MOE article misses the point. Medicaid is public assistance, neither a “right” nor an earned entitlement like social insurance. To be eligible people are supposed to meet income and asset tests. Maintenance of effort rules obviate that need and make it impossible for states to remove people from the welfare rolls even in cases of fraudulent misrepresentation. In the meantime, Medicaid’s most expensive benefit, long-term care, continues to crowd out private LTC financing by making it easy for people with significant wealth to qualify and now to remain on the program whether they are eligible or not.