Medicaid: Transitional Coverage Can Help Families Move From Welfare To Work

April, 2002Before the Subcommittee on Health, Committee on Energy and Commerce, House of Representatives United States General Accounting Office Medicaid: Transitional Coverage Can Help Families Move From Welfare To Work (GAO-02-679T) Statement of William J. Scanlon, Director  Health Care Issues Federal welfare reform in 1996 significantly changed policy for low-income families with children and established a five-year lifetime limit on cash assistance. The welfare reform law also extended transitional Medicaid assistance through 2001, thus continuing an important link to health insurance coverage for individuals as their economic circumstances changed. States have implemented a variety of initiatives . . .