With more than half a million New Jerseyans soon set to face new Medicaid work rules, lawmakers in New Jersey advanced a Democratic measure Monday that would make it easier to meet those requirements through volunteering.
Changes by the Trump administration to reduce federal spending on Medicaid will force some recipients to document that they spend at least 20 hours a week working, in school, or volunteering if they want to continue to receive public health insurance benefits after January 2027.
A bill sponsored by Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin (D-Middlesex) calls for state agencies to connect Medicaid members with volunteer opportunities and make it easier for them to document the time they gave to these causes.
The Assembly Aging and Human Services Committee passed the bill Monday, with four Democrats voting yes and two Republicans abstaining over concerns that the language suggested the Trump administration’s requirements were unreasonable.
“If volunteer hours count toward the new eligibility requirement, then we ought to be able to make it easier for people to comply,” Coughlin told committee members.
The bill doesn’t change the benefits or who is eligible, Coughlin said, but it would reduce the barriers imposed by the new law.
“It simply makes it a little bit easier for the people who have it a little bit harder,” he said.
Medicaid covers nearly 2 million New Jerseyans, some 550,000 who will be subject to work rules next year. These members will also need to prove they are financially eligible twice a year instead of just once. Experts warn that the federal changes could force as many as 350,000 out of the program.
Coughlin’s proposal would also apply to New Jerseyans who receive food stamps, federal aid that helps feed some 850,000 people statewide. Work rules implemented this year are expected to impact tens of thousands of food stamp recipients, state officials have warned.
These changes are already reducing the number of people who can collect benefits, Coughlin said.
“People are now running into barriers that have nothing to do with whether they qualify but have everything to do with whether they can navigate the system,” he said.
Coughlin’s legislation calls for $120,000 to support various state volunteer programs and requires them to work together to create a comprehensive database of opportunities with links to multiple state websites. It also calls for records documenting people’s volunteer jobs to be easily available to Medicaid and food stamp administrators.
Gov. Mikie Sherrill included $10 million in her state budget proposal for the coming year to shore up New Jersey’s Medicaid enrollment system in advance of the work-rule requirements. The spending plan, which lawmakers must adopt by July 1, also includes $71 million to offset federal funding cuts for administering the food stamp program.
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