Have Medicaid? New Michigan bill may force you to work

Familiar fault lines formed Wednesday when the Senate’s Michigan Competitiveness Committee voted to require many Medicaid recipients to work. Republicans aligned with the business community in supporting the bill, which passed on a 4-1 vote, while Democrats and social service groups roundly criticized the bill as both onerous for the state Health Department and punitive against a vulnerable population in the state. In Washington D.C., U.S. Reps. Dan Kildee, D-Flint, Sander Levin, D-Royal Oak, Debbie Dingell, D-Dearborn, and Brenda Lawrence, D-Southfield, wrote a letter to Gov. Rick Snyder to proceed with great caution on any action that would change the requirements for Medicaid recipients. "We urge any consideration of the measure be postponed until the state is able to conduct the analysis needed to provide a comprehensive assessment of how many Michiganders might lose health coverage under such a proposal," the letter stated.