Lawmakers watch West Virginia’s implementation of work requirements for Medicaid

West Virginia needs to carefully balance implementation of work requirements for Medicaid with costs to the state and proceed with caution to be certain that people who are eligible for benefits aren’t knocked off the roles unnecessarily, a state legislative leader said.

About 504,000 people are enrolled in Medicaid in West Virginia. About 160,000 of those are in the Medicaid expansion population.

West Virginia’s Medicaid system faces significant changes through the recently-passed “Big, Beautiful Bill Act,” including implementation of a work requirement structure.

One of the new provisions is “community engagement requirements” of at least 80 hours per month of work, education or service for able-bodied adults without dependents. The requirement calls for twice-a-year verification.

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