The Biden administration wants to roll back some states’ requirements that Medicaid recipients work in exchange for government relief, but its task may be complicated by moves in the final weeks of the previous administration to lock in the requirements for months.
The Republican Trump administration supported work requirements, calling them a way to move people out of the program and into jobs with employer-sponsored health coverage. Typically, a beneficiary has to work 20 or more hours a week, or perform community service or participate in education or job training, in order to get or keep their health insurance.
Democrats say the states’ work requirements run counter to Medicaid’s status as a guaranteed benefit for the low-income and disabled people who qualify for the federal-state health program. Kentucky, Arkansas and Nebraska are among the 12 states that received Trump administration approval to impose work requirements, though some plans were blocked by the courts.
Just weeks before President Biden took office, the Trump administration urged states in a Jan. 4 letter to sign agreements that would preserve work requirements in the program for nine months before they could be undone by the federal government.
The letters say the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal agency that oversees the program, must go beyond offering states a hearing to contest changes, as is typically the case, and instead follow a longer, nine-month process for revoking the arrangements. An HHS spokesman said 17 states signed the agreements, including Georgia, Tennessee and Arkansas.
Republican leaders in the states, having signed those agreements, say work requirements should be binding until September. Some state officials say they are examining whether the agreements signed in January give them legal grounds for challenging the Biden administration’s action.
Arkansas Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson spoke in 2018 in Little Rock after the federal government approved a state plan to require thousands of people on Medicaid to seek work.
Photo: Kelly P. Kissel/Associated Press
“Arkansas negotiated in good faith with the last administration over nearly a year for its work requirements, which helps lift Arkansans out of poverty,” said Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.).
“President Biden revoked the program without warning,” Mr. Cotton added, “making unilateral decisions for Arkansas voters from D.C. even before fully staffing his administration.”
Mr. Biden recently signed executive orders directing government agencies to re-examine Trump-era healthcare policies, moves that were expected to lead to the unraveling of initiatives such as Medicaid work requirements and short-term health plans. The orders specifically called for agencies to re-examine rules and policies that limit access to healthcare, including pilot programs to alter Medicaid and waivers that let states change the program, such as adding work requirements.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court may soon weigh in on the issue. Justices are set to consider appeals by Arkansas and New Hampshire over whether the government’s approval of the work arrangements during the Trump administration is legal, following lawsuits by residents of each state. The Biden administration has asked the Supreme Court not to hear the case, and ended the Justice Department’s defense of the requirements that began under the previous administration.
The Biden administration is seeking to withdraw the requirements before the court is set to hear the case this spring. CMS, meanwhile, said in letters to states in February that it wouldn’t uphold agreements made with the Trump administration granting a nine-month reprieve.
President Biden on Thursday signed two executive orders aimed at restoring health-care policies that were weakened during the Trump administration. The orders include restoring the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid and protections to women’s reproductive health. Photo: Evan Vucci/AP
Arkansas in 2018 imposed work requirements for seven months, but a lower court struck down the mandate and an appeals court upheld the ruling. Arkansas appealed to the Supreme Court.
Dennis Smith, a senior adviser for Medicaid and Health Care Reform in Arkansas, part of a state agency, said the Biden administration could choose not to approve new work requirements, but revoking a program that was approved by the previous administration and took months of planning was unfair.
“This is really rewriting the relationship between the federal government and states, and everybody has to be really concerned,” Mr. Smith said. “Once you start down that path, where does it stop? States need stability and predictability.”
A spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, which includes CMS, said, “Medicaid’s primary objective, as set out by Congress, is to provide medical assistance to serve the health and wellness needs of our nation’s vulnerable and low-income individuals and families—based on need, not based on one’s ability to find work.” He added, “This is not the time to experiment with policies that risk a substantial loss of health coverage or benefits, especially for communities significantly impacted by Covid-19 and other health inequities.”
In Nebraska, ending the work requirements could potentially strip some beneficiaries of certain benefits, state officials said. The state required newly eligible adults to meet certain work and other requirements to get dental and vision coverage that aren’t traditionally covered by the Medicaid program.
Nebraska state officials said the Biden administration should be reviewing Medicaid changes on an individual basis and not reject innovations.
“Nebraska will be making the case for why federal approval of our program should stand,” said Taylor Gage, a spokesman for Republican Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts.
Georgia’s program was designed so that lower-income people previously not eligible for Medicaid could get coverage if they met work or related requirements, and state officials said rescinding the approval would deprive coverage to future enrollees. The program has been set to begin July 1, and the state is bound by legislative statute from adopting the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion. Georgia officials said they plan to argue to maintain their program.
CMS will work with Georgia and Nebraska to explore opportunities for covering the same people, an HHS official said. CMS said it would consider whether the programs promote Medicaid’s objectives before making any decisions.
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The new administration’s quick action to start rolling back the agreements is partly a legal maneuver, some legal analysts said, since waiting nine months before revoking them would keep the Supreme Court case alive.
These analysts said the administration would prefer to leave the question of the programs’ legality—and whether Medicaid’s purpose is to provide health insurance or improve the health of its beneficiaries—out of the hands of the Supreme Court.
A decision that defines Medicaid’s purpose solely as providing health coverage could limit the administration’s ability to approve new proposals from states, such as programs that use Medicaid funding to help with housing or transportation, or incentivizing people to participate in wellness programs.
“It would limit the agency’s discretion and could come back to hurt the Biden administration,” said Nicholas Bagley, a health law professor at the University of Michigan.
The Biden administration has asked the Supreme Court to vacate the earlier D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals decision saying the purpose of Medicaid was to provide health insurance.
The administration’s initial steps to end Medicaid work requirements were cheered by advocacy groups and Democrats who say work requirements reduce access to health coverage.
More than 18,000 beneficiaries in Arkansas lost health coverage in the seven months work requirements were in place in 2018, according to state data. Arkansas state officials said the numbers of disenrollment are due to traditional churn in the program, and that other states without work requirements have had higher numbers of people who have been disenrolled.
AACHEN, Germany, March 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Grünenthal Germany is now certified as a Great Place to Work® and a Great Start! company for apprentices. The company was awarded these two certifications based on the positive feedback that its employees shared during the Great Place to Work® survey in 2020 and a successfully completed external audit.
"We are pleased with this positive feedback from our employees particularly in times of the pandemic. It shows us that employees feel connected to the company – despite contact restrictions and working from home," says Oliver Lamm, Head HR Germany. "At Grünenthal we actively create an attractive working environment based on our strong corporate culture."
Overall, 76 percent of the participants stated that they consider Grünenthal a "great place to work". A great workplace is characterised by several factors: Employees trust their management and experience a working atmosphere based on credibility, respect and fairness. They are proud of their job and their company and enjoy working with their colleagues.
For the first time, Grünenthal has officially been certified as a Great Place to Work® in Germany. In addition to this, the company has been awarded the Great start! certificate in recognition of the positive evaluation of its apprenticeship programme.
Grünenthal also successfully participated in the Great Place to Work® certification process in other countries, and has received certificates for its affiliates in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Italy, Peru, Portugal and Spain.
To pursue our journey towards our vision of a world free of pain, we continuously strive to attract and retain the right talent for Grünenthal globally. We've recently launched our evolved employer brand with a range of social media activities and a refreshed careers website and by getting our employees involved as our brand ambassadors. Read what makes Grünenthal an attractive employer: https://careers.grunenthal.com
About Great Place to Work®
Grünenthal has conducted the Great Place to Work® survey regularly since 2009. This voluntary and anonymous survey gives employees around the globe an opportunity to provide direct feedback about Grünenthal's workplace culture and leadership approach. In this way, the company gets a clear benchmark for where it stands and can track its progress by comparing against previous years. In turn, this helps Grünenthal to focus on the right priorities and to implement effective measures that keep it moving forwards on its cultural journey.
About Grünenthal
Grünenthal is a global leader in pain management and related diseases. As a science-based, privately-owned pharmaceutical company, we have a long track record of bringing innovative treatments and state-of-the-art technologies to patients worldwide. Our purpose is to change lives for the better – and innovation is our passion. We are focusing all of our activities and efforts on working towards our vision of a world free of pain.
Grünenthal is headquartered in Aachen, Germany, and has affiliates in 29 countries across Europe, Latin America and the US. Our products are available in more than 100 countries. In 2019, Grünenthal employed around 4,700 people and achieved sales of € 1.4 bn.
Salesforce. com Inc.’s chief information officer says remote work is here to stay.
But that hasn’t kept her and the IT team from working with the company’s product engineers to write and test new software designed to help businesses return to physical offices in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Jo-ann Olsovsky, who leads Salesforce’s internal information technology department, said she expects most companies in post-Covid markets to adopt a hybrid approach to the workplace, where employees split their time between coming into the office and working from home.
Packaged into Work.com, a once-dormant offering that Salesforce relaunched in May as a pandemic-management platform, the refurbished apps are meant to become part of everyday office life, Ms. Olsovsky said. They enable employers to stagger work shifts and provide staff with daily health checks before entering a building, among other measures.
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The platform and new apps are also an example of the company’s expansion beyond customer-relationship management software. On Thursday, Salesforce reported revenue of $5.82 billion in the latest quarter, up 20% from the same period last year, driven by record sales of remote-work and other business continuity apps.
Salesforce itself expects more than half of its employees to continue working from home going forward. In February the company’s chief people officer said that when deemed safe by health officials, more than 65% of its 54,000 global workers will come into the office only one to three days a week, up from 40% before the pandemic.
With many employees working remotely full-time, the company envisions reducing its real-estate footprint and revamping office layouts, replacing rows of desks with collaboration spaces and open-air meeting rooms.
Fluctuating waves of Covid-19 case numbers have led to widespread uncertainties over the timing of workplace reopenings. A February survey of 2,200 U.S. workers by the Conference Board, a research group, found that 44% of employees polled didn’t know their company’s plans to return to the workplace. That is up from last September, when 37% of respondents polled by the group said they were unclear on their back-to-the-office plan.
“We’ve had customers coming to us asking about our own return-to-work plan,” said Ms. Olsovsky. “So we partnered with our own product teams and worked with them to write a product and stood it up inside the company,” she said.
Ms. Olsovsky said the IT team often acts as “customer zero” in trial runs for new products and services.
Bobby Cameron, vice president and principal analyst at tech research firm Forrester ResearchInc., said as firms across the economy digitize business functions, the insight developed by internal-tech CIOs at tech vendors is becoming more relevant to the products they sell.
“The best enterprise tech companies have CIOs who are builders,” said Elizabeth Golluscio, managing vice president at research and consulting firm GartnerInc. She said CIOs who use their own products know how well they perform for customers, and how they can be improved.
Among other features, Salesforce’s back-to-work apps include a scheduling app that lets workers choose weekly shift preferences, allowing employers to manage floor capacities and avoid bottlenecks. A wellness-assessment app provides a daily check-in to monitor workers’ health and assess approvals to enter the office building, along with contact tracing and mapping features.
With oversight from the Ms. Olsovsky’s IT team, the new features were put to the test at the company’s seven offices in Australia, which began the process of reopening as early as August, though employees now will have the option of working from home through at least the end of July, the company said.
Ms. Olsovsky’s team also monitored similar product tests at the company’s offices in Japan, she said.
Based on employee feedback, early testing showed the need to incorporate the tool with other business applications and processes to get a fuller view of a company’s organization, she said.
“We’re all asking ourselves what is that new normal,” Ms. Olsovsky said. “The new normal isn’t reverting back to the old normal.”
Plexiglass dividers and floor decals might not be permanent, but the pandemic will bring lasting change to offices. Experts from the architecture and real-estate industries share how they are getting back to work and what offices will look like in the future. Photo: Cesare Salerno for The Wall Street Journal (Originally Published July 30, 2020)
The Santa Claus, Ind. theme park plans to kick off its 75th season on Saturday, May 15, 2021. Splashin' Safari is set to open the next week.
SANTA CLAUS, Ind. — Holiday World has set the opening date for its 75th season. According to a press release, the theme park is planning to open on Saturday, May 15, 2021.
Season passholders will get early access to the park on the weekend of May 8 and 9 and Holiday World's water park, Splashin' Safari, is set to open on May 21.
A formal COVID-19 safety plan for the 2021 season hasn't been released yet. Leah Koch, director of communications and fourth-generation owner of the park, said Holiday World will continue to follow recommendations from the CDC and Indiana health officials.
The ride reservation app the park implemented during its 2020 season will not be used this year, but the park plans to offer hand sanitizer throughout the park. Events like Happy Halloween Weekends are expected to continue as planned this year.
“For 75 years, four generations of my family have grown this park with slightly differing visions, but always with the same goal: to give families a break from reality,” Koch said.
In anticipation of a busier season, Holiday World will be hiring 2,200 new team members. Applications are available online at HolidayWorld.com/jobs.
Most of the park’s seasonal positions are available to applicants who will be 16 years and older by April. Some jobs require a minimum age of 14 years on the date of application.
Retirees and other adults seeking seasonal employment are also encouraged to apply. The departments with the most positions available are Food & Beverage, Ride Operations, Lifeguards and Cleaning.
To encourage more employees from Southern Indiana, Holiday World has added New Albany to its Employee Transportation program, providing bus transportation to and from the park for seasonal employees.
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Holiday came off the bench and finished with two points (1-5 FG, 0-3 3Pt) and three assists in 18 minutes Sunday against the Clippers.
Holiday was coming off of a 10-game absence due to COVID-19 protocols, so the Bucks eased him into action off the bench. While he didn't provide much, fantasy-wise, Holiday is the lynchpin of the Bucks' perimeter defense, and he played a hand in limiting the Clippers to 41.2 percent shooting as a team. Milwaukee plays two more games (Tuesday vs. LAC; Thursday vs. DEN) before heading into the All-Star break.
Ben Bogen has performed in Broadway’s “Frozen” and the touring cast of “Jersey Boys.” He’s currently looking for work amid the pandemic. (Courtesy photo)
(NEXSTAR) – When Broadway went dark in March, Ben Bogen’s heart sunk.
He’d been out of full-time work for a few months by then, after an off-Broadway show he was performing in closed after a week run. But once the pandemic hit, he knew his chances of finding another theatre gig were slim-to-none.
“I was unemployed when the pandemic hit. None of it was really working out, and I was feeling really quite lost and not sure when my next gig would come. And then the pandemic hit,” the 27-year-old said from his New York City apartment.
Bogen has performed in the ensemble of Broadway’s “Frozen” and in the touring cast of “Jersey Boys,” for which he understudied the role of Frankie Valli. He’s played countless roles in regional theatre productions, including “Mamma Mia” and “Mary Poppins.” But even an impressive resume doesn’t cut it when theaters are closed, their curtains drawn.
But Bogen remains upbeat. He recently signed a freelance contract with an agent and filmed a new reel.
And in the meantime, he’s making it work by teaching master classes through Broadway Plus, a virtual program that connects artists with students online and working on-call at Lululemon.
“I’ve taught at colleges, dance studios and recently taught a master class in Raleigh,” he said.
It’s helped that he has a large network, who throw him jobs as they arise. But the lack of performance is taking a toll.
“How I’m feeling is a day-to-day thing,” he said. “It used to be when I was having a bad day, I’d go see a show and find some inspiration. It’s amazing how much the theater heals and realizing I don’t have that option right now, well it’s hard.”
“It’s hard feeling like this business that I worked so hard to be a part of doesn’t exist.”
Right now, he’s worried about “theater kids” like himself who don’t have an outlet like he did as a kid.
“As a kid, I couldn’t wait to go to rehearsal or perform in a show,” he said. “And right now, I can’t help thinking about all those kids who can’t do that thing.”
Still, Bogen remains hopeful, especially given the fact that some tv productions are allowed to continue filming in New York City. And, though he can’t share the details yet, he’s got a few projects in the works.
“I keep putting out to the universe that I hope someone will let me be a storyteller again in some capacity,” he said.
The Link Lonk
The Link Lonk
