Earlier this week the State House Health and Human Services Reform met to discuss legislation (HF3722/SF3611) that would require some people who receive Medical Assistance to report they are either working, looking for work, or completing training or community service activities in order to receive MA health care and supports. They heard from 30 testifiers who had concerns about the bill – one mentioned access to the internet and technology as a barrier to keeping a job (via This is Medicaid)…

Monica Nilsson, on behalf of the Dakota county homeless shelter she opened last year, spoke to the significant hurdles some MA [Medical Assistance] residents there already face:  “People stayed in the shelter seeking to maintain their blood sugar, refrain from vomiting with the flu, abstain until they can get into treatment, or restrain the demons in their heads that no one is helping them leave behind. . . . They don’t have a mailbox, enough minutes on their phone, library access for a computer, and in some rural areas, good access to the internet to receive regular updates.  They show up for shifts that have been cut, they miss changes in the schedule.  Employers don’t understand why or how.”