The racial redlining in Michigan’s Medicaid work requirements – ThinkProgress
[ad_1] There are a lot of problems with work requirements for Medicaid. They aren’t necessary because the majority of people who can work, work already; they would increase the ranks of the uninsured ; and despite what supporters think, they wouldn’t actually pull people out of poverty but could further hurl them into it. But there’s also another big issue: Medicaid work requirements could increase racial disparities in health care. Last week, the Michigan Senate passed legislation that instructs the state to apply for a federal waiver for Medicaid, so that Michigan can require people work 30 hours a week before before receiving heath insurance. But as Detroit Free Press Nancy Kaffer first reported , some people will be exempt from the requirements. If someone lives in a county where unemployment is over 8.5 percent, they don’t have to prove they’re working to get medical help. While on its surface, this doesn’t seem like a horrible idea, the threshold actually ends up exempti...