Sununu hails committee's OK for Medicaid work requirements

Gov. Sununu says the requirements are very minor and provide recipients with greater flexibility to be able to successfully comply with the requirements. (Courtesy photo)

CONCORD - New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu today hailed the Joint Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules' unanimous confirmation of the state's work requirement for some Medicaid recipients.

"The Department of Health and Human Services has clearly, thoroughly and in a nonpartisan manner addressed the concerns raised by the Joint Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules," Sununu said in a statement sent to media outlets. "I am pleased that the committee has approved the rules for New Hampshire's work requirement. It is clear that the changes made by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to our work requirement are very minor and in fact provide recipients with greater flexibility to be able to successfully comply with the requirement."

The rules will require certain Medicaid recipients to log at least 100 hours a month in qualifying activities, including but not limited to holding a job, going to school, or participating in community service.

Certain populations, like people participating in a drug court program, or the parent of a dependent child with a disability, are exempted from the work requirement.

New Hampshire is one of a handful of states that have requested to implement Medicaid work requirements.

Others include Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Former Maine Gov. Paul LePage had also sought to have requirements in place for nonelderly, nondisabled Mainers, but current Gov. Janet Mills has rejected the requirement saying it would have put more Mainers' health insurance at risk.