As Kentucky becomes the first state to adopt Medicaid work requirements, others states such as Washington are pursuing a completely different approach to transforming the government health care program.
This month, Washington state moved forward with a pilot program to offer supportive housing services to Medicaid enrollees. As part of its larger federal waiver project that launched last year, the state has earmarked nearly $200 million for supportive housing and supported employment services.
While federal Medicaid rules draw a hard line against using health care dollars for housing itself, the money can be used on services that connect people with permanent supportive housing and help them stay there. That’s key to the overall process, said Kate Baber, a homelessness policy and advocacy specialist at the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance, a Seattle-based nonprofit. While other sources can fund the construction or purchase of homes, housing efforts need these ongoing support services to be effective, she said. Such services can help people not only find housing but learn how to stay in that housing by being a good tenant.
[For more on this story by Kellie Schmitt, go to https://www.centerforhealthjou...id-get-people-housed]
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