By: Sarah Grusin and dfitzgerald
Executive Summary
Sec. 1115 of the Social Security Act allows the Secretary of HHS to waive some requirements of the Medicaid Act so that states can test novel approaches to improving medical assistance for low-income people.
While historically states have proposed waivers that did indeed propose innovative approaches to improve Medicaid and expand coverage, now, at HHS’s urging, several states are seeking waivers to impose harmful cuts and restrictions. The first set of harmful waivers have been approved for Kentucky, with a number of state’s poised to enact similar changes to Medicaid. This chart provides an overview of the harmful waiver provisions that have been proposed to-date. (Chart updated as of September 7, 2018)