Wisconsin plan would cut off Medicaid and food stamps for those who refuse drug test

Wisconsin plan would cut off Medicaid and food stamps for those who refuse drug test

MADISON, Wis. Gov. Scott Walker wants to make Wisconsin the first state in the country to require childless adults applying for Medicaid to undergo drug screening, a move that could serve as a national model.

Walkers plan, which needs federal approval, comes as he prepares to run for a third term next year. Wisconsins Republican-controlled Legislature approved Walkers request for a waiver to do the drug tests two years ago, but is now digging into the details of how it would actually work.

The Legislatures budget-writing Joint Finance Committee was to review a wide range of Walkers welfare reform proposals Thursday, including imposing a new work requirement on childless adult Medicaid recipients and parents who receive food stamps. The committee could vote to give the Legislature more oversight of the programs or make changes to what Walker wants.

Walker has talked for years about drug testing Medicaid and food stamp recipients, touting it as a way to make welfare programs a trampoline, not a hammock to get people back into the workforce.

The new drug test requirement would affect about 148,000 of the 1.2 million people in BadgerCare, the states main Medicaid program. It provides benefits to people who earn less than $12,060 a year as a single adult and $16,240 a year for a couple. All childless adults applying for BadgerCare would be screened for illegal drugs, including marijuana, which is not legal in Wisconsin even for medical purposes.

Those who refuse a drug test would be ineligible for coverage until the test is completed, while people who test positive would get treatment paid for by taxpayers through the Medicaid program. Details about the type of treatment and where it would be offered would be worked out with the federal government as the plan is implemented. Those who refuse treatment would lose benefits for six months.

The proposal would also expand drug test requirements for food stamp recipients to parents of children age 6 to 18. A requirement that childless adults receiving food stamps be screened for drugs was passed in the prior state budget, but has yet to take effect pending federal approval. Former President Barack Obamas administration warned Wisconsin at the time the requirement was passed two years ago that it was barred under federal law.

But Walkers drug-testing and work-requirement plans to take effect in 2019 would be more likely to get approval from Republican President Donald Trumps administration. The drug test requirement was also widely expected to be challenged in court.

I do think that theres a good chance Wisconsin would be the first state to get such a waiver and it could indeed set a trend, said Jon Peacock, research director of ...

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