Healthy Michigan Work Requirement Struck Down

A federal judge has overturned Michigan’s requirement that some participants in the expanded Medicare program work a certain number of hours a month.

The requirement took effect January 1st.

It included exemptions for those in poor health, many mothers, and others who were primary caregivers. It applied only to those in the Healthy Michigan program, and did not affect the elderly and others in the standard federal Medicaid program.

Michigan was in the process of notifying around 80,000 participants that they had not met the work and reporting requirements for January.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in Washington, D.C., had earlier issued a similar ruling for a similar program in Arkansas. That earlier decision was recently upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals.