Title: Medicaid Reform and Personal Responsibility Act of 2017
Policy area: Health

Summary:
Medicaid Reform and Personal Responsibility Act of 2017
This bill requires state Medicaid programs to impose a work requirement upon enrollees who are able-bodied adults without dependents. Specifically, such enrollees must spend at least 20 hours per week working in a job, receiving on-the-job training, obtaining job skills, or doing community service. Such enrollees must also annually register with the state as employed or as unemployed and actively looking for employment.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1150 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1150

  To amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to require States to 
impose a work requirement for able-bodied adults without dependents who 
                  are eligible for medical assistance.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 17, 2017

  Mr. Kennedy introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
                  referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to require States to 
impose a work requirement for able-bodied adults without dependents who 
                  are eligible for medical assistance.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Medicaid Reform and Personal 
Responsibility Act of 2017''.

SEC. 2. REQUIRING STATES TO APPLY A WORK REQUIREMENT FOR ABLE-BODIED 
              ADULTS WITHOUT DEPENDENTS UNDER MEDICAID.

    Section 1902 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396a) is 
amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) by striking ``and'' at the end of paragraph 
                (82);
                    (B) by striking the period at the end of paragraph 
                (83)(B)(ii) and inserting ``; and''; and
                    (C) by inserting after paragraph (83)(B)(ii) the 
                following new paragraph:
            ``(84) comply with the requirements of subsection (nn) 
        (relating to a work requirement for able-bodied adults without 
        dependents).''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(nn) Work Requirement for Able-Bodied Adults Without 
Dependents.--
            ``(1) In general.--Beginning October 1, 2017, a State shall 
        elect through a State plan amendment (or waiver of such plan) 
        to condition medical assistance under this title to an 
        individual who is an able-bodied adult without dependents (as 
        defined in paragraph (2)(A)) upon such an individual's 
        satisfaction of a work requirement (as defined in paragraph 
        (2)(B)) and the requirements of paragraph (3).
            ``(2) Definitions.--In this subsection:
                    ``(A) Able-bodied adult without dependents.--The 
                term `able-bodied adult without dependents' means an 
                individual who is not--
                            ``(i) under 18 or over 55 years of age;
                            ``(ii) medically certified as physically or 
                        mentally unfit for employment;
                            ``(iii) a parent or other member of a 
                        household with responsibility for a dependent 
                        child;
                            ``(iv) a pregnant woman;
                            ``(v) a bona fide student enrolled at least 
                        half time in any recognized school, training 
                        program, or institution of higher education; or
                            ``(vi) a regular participant in a drug 
                        addiction or alcoholic treatment and 
                        rehabilitation program.
                    ``(B) Work requirement.--
                            ``(i) In general.--The term `work 
                        requirement' means participation in activity 
                        specified by the State as work for purposes of 
                        this subsection for 20 hours or more per week, 
                        averaged monthly.
                            ``(ii) Job training and community 
                        service.--Such term includes--
                                    ``(I) on-the-job training;
                                    ``(II) job skills training directly 
                                related to employment; and
                                    ``(III) community service programs.
            ``(3) Additional requirements.--An able-bodied adult 
        without dependents shall not receive medical assistance under 
        this title if the able-bodied adult without dependents--
                    ``(A) refuses, at the time of application and every 
                12 months thereafter, to register as employed or as 
                unemployed and actively looking for employment for less 
                than 12 consecutive months, in a manner prescribed by 
                the State;
                    ``(B) refuses without good cause to satisfy an 
                applicable work requirement;
                    ``(C) refuses without good cause to accept an offer 
                of employment, at a site or plant not subject to a 
                strike or lockout at the time of the refusal, at a wage 
                not less than the higher of--
                            ``(i) the applicable Federal or State 
                        minimum wage; or
                            ``(ii) 80 percent of the wage that would 
                        have governed had the minimum hourly rate under 
                        section 6(a)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act 
                        of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 206(a)(1)) been applicable 
                        to the offer of employment;
                    ``(D) refuses without good cause to provide the 
                State with sufficient information to allow the State to 
                determine the employment status or the job availability 
                of the able-bodied adult without dependents; or
                    ``(E) voluntarily and without good cause--
                            ``(i) quits a job; or
                            ``(ii) reduces work effort and, after the 
                        reduction, the able-bodied adult without 
                        dependents is working less than 20 hours per 
                        week.''.
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