CMS approves limited Utah Medicaid expansion with work requirement

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Friday approved a Section 1115 waiver allowing Utah to amend its Primary Care Network demonstration to provide Medicaid coverage to adults under age 65 with incomes up to 100 percent of the federal poverty level, and require certain adults in the program to register to apply for work to remain eligible. That’s less than the 138 percent FPL required to receive enhanced federal matching funds under the Affordable Care Act. Among other changes, the waiver would require beneficiaries with access to a qualified employer-sponsored plan to enroll in such a plan, close enrollment if projected costs exceed annual state appropriations, and allow the state to provide clinically managed residential withdrawal services to certain adults with substance use disorders. A federal judge last week blocked Medicaid work requirements in Kentucky and Arkansas.