MDHH Director warns health providers about the risks in Medicaid work rules

Health and human service agencies that worked so hard to enroll nearly 700,000 extremely low-income Michigan citizens into Healthy Michigan have warned of the risk embedded in the Medicaid Work Requires. Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Robert Gordon spoke to those risks at the Michigan Association of Health Plans annual conference recently (https://www.crainsdetroit.com/health-care/michigan-health-chief-medicaid-work-rules-will-drive-uncompensated-care-cost-lives). He should be credited with taking ownership of a policy that was created before his appointment, but a risk to the health and well-being of Michiganders under his watch.

The unintended consequences of those who want to be assured that Healthy Michigan recipients are indeed acting as productive members of society, if possible, are a return to the crisis of the uninsured prior to the Affordable Care Plan. These are conditions that raised the very concern that prompted the development of our organization in 2005. As Director Gordon said clearly, “It is our problem, it is all of our problems. We all know that without insurance, there will be more people in emergency rooms, there will be more uncompensated care costs. More importantly, there will be more people suffering and more people living less long than they should.” He added that the department is committed to educating Medicaid recipients on why and how to full the expectation of the new rules.

Several health and human services agencies in Detroit and Wayne County whose missions serve this population directly came together to develop awareness and enrollment strategies that led to the extraordinary enrollment of Healthy Michigan clients when the Affordable Care Act was initially launched and funds made available for such activities. Agencies like Authority Health have remained active despite the discontinuation of the funding.  As we brace ourselves for the implementation of the work rules in 2020, we are also prepared to educate recipients through our enrollment and navigation outreach services, trying to stop, what Director Gordon characterized as, “something really bad from happening.”