NPR
By: Eric Whitney
Montana’s senator, Ed Buttrey, is not a fan of the Affordable Care Act, but he does want everyone to get benefits by linking healthcare coverage with job training to find a better job or better pay, and get the most benefits out from it. However, Joan Alker, CCF’s executive director, mentioned that that was a good idea, but that the bad thing was that it would not support every single person in need of healthcare coverage.
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But health policy researcher Joan Alker, who runs the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University, warns that it could backfire. “I think it’s great and well worth doing — to link people who might not be aware of existing job training programs or other kinds of work supports that can help them work. What I think is problematic is when this becomes a stick and not a support,” she says.
Alker says many people on Medicaid already have jobs, often low-paying ones that don’t offer health insurance. These people often have little time for new training. In Montana, about two-thirds of people on Medicaid are employed. Alker says if people fail to meet a work requirement and then lose health benefits as a result, they’ll likely just get sicker and become less able to work.
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