Families USA Submits Comments on CMS’ Medicaid Work Reporting Requirements Interim Final Rule

Families USA submitted comments on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Interim Final Rule with Comment Period (IFC) implementing Medicaid work reporting (community engagement) requirements. Our comments strongly urging CMS to redraft the rule and, until it does, delay implementation.

Families USA has long opposed work reporting requirements in any form, and this comment letter focuses on specific ways the IFC goes beyond the statute (H.R. 1) Congress passed last year: CMS’ definition of “medically frail,” which improperly requires people with disabilities and serious health conditions to also prove they lack capacity to work, and the rule’s new limits on states’ ability to verify eligibility through auditable self-attestation.
Our comments detail how these provisions:

• Conflict with the unambiguous text of the statute and exceed CMS’ authority under the Administrative Procedure Act.
• Impose billions of dollars in unworkable administrative costs and burdens on states, with no comparable regulatory framework or federal infrastructure to support them.
• Place unreasonable new documentation demands on health care providers and Medicaid patients, particularly people with disabilities, substance use disorder, and other serious or complex medical conditions.

Read the full comment for more.