Energy and Commerce Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) released the following statement today in response to the Trump Administration’s guidance to state Medicaid directors encouraging work requirements designed to bar Americans living on the brink from accessing health care services:
“The Trump Administration’s action today is cruel and a clear violation of both the Medicaid statute and longstanding congressional intent for 1115 waivers, which are intended to allow states to expand access to Medicaid not restrict it. The Administration and Congressional Republicans are using these waivers as a weapon in their ongoing effort to cut essential services to Americans who are struggling to make ends meet. The vast majority of Americans who rely on Medicaid are working hard to support their families on less than $15,000 a year.
“By allowing states to impose harmful work requirements, the Trump Administration is endangering the life support systems millions of vulnerable Americans rely on every day.
“The Administration’s actions today are wrong and in direct contradiction to longstanding federal law, and Congressional Democrats will do everything we can to prevent these mean-spirited proposals from ever taking effect."
