Kentucky gov candidate backs some Medicaid work requirements

Republican gubernatorial candidate and current state Attorney General Daniel Cameron said Tuesday that he supports creating a work requirement for some able-bodied Kentucky adults receiving Medicaid health coverage, reigniting a contentious issue from the state’s governor’s race four years ago.

At a GOP candidates’ forum in Paducah, Cameron pledged that if elected governor in November, he’d request federal permission to impose work rules for some Medicaid recipients. He’s seeking to install a requirement that has run into resistance from the courts and President Joe Biden’s administration.

“On day one as your next governor, I will go to the federal government, I will ask for a waiver to make sure that we put a work requirement with those able-bodied recipients,” Cameron said. “Medicaid should not be a program that people stay on for the remainder of their life, especially if they can work. It needs to be transitory, so that we can save it for other folks that actually need it.”

Medicaid became a flash point during the state’s 2019 gubernatorial campaign — won by Democrat Andy Beshear, who is seeking reelection to a second term this year.

After taking office, Beshear rescinded efforts by former Republican Gov. Matt Bevin to set work requirements for some able-bodied adults to receive Medicaid coverage. At the time, Beshear referred to his action as the “moral, faith-driven thing to do.” Beshear calls health care a “basic human right.”

Medicaid is a joint federal and state health care program for poor and disabled people. Advocates have said work requirements would become one more hoop for low-income people to jump through, and many could be denied coverage because of technicalities and challenging new paperwork.

The Trump-era plan by Bevin would have required that affected recipients either work, study, volunteer or perform other “community engagement” activities to qualify for Medicaid. A federal judge blocked the requirements before they took effect, but Bevin’s administration had appealed. Beshear said his action ended Kentucky’s involvement in the litigation.

Beshear said the plan would have stripped coverage for about 100,000 Kentuckians. Bevin’s administration estimated the work-related changes would have saved taxpayers more than $300 million over five years and said it would have encouraged people to be healthier.

On Tuesday, Cameron didn’t provide details about what his proposed waiver would entail, but said that work…