Federal Officials Say No-Go To Lifetime Limits On Medicaid

Kaiser Health News

By: Phil Galewitz

The Trump administration’s promise of unprecedented flexibility to states in running their Medicaid programs hit its limit Monday. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services rejected a proposal from Kansas to place a three-year lifetime cap on some adult Medicaid enrollees. Since Medicaid began in 1965, no state has restricted how long beneficiaries could remain in the entitlement program.

“This is good news,” said Joan Alker, executive director of Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families, a Medicaid advocate. “This was a bridge too far for this CMS.” Alker’s enthusiasm, though, was tempered because Verma did not also reject Kansas’ effort to place work requirements on some adult enrollees. That decision is still pending.

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