The following article by Amanda Michelle Gomez was posted on the ThinkProgress website March 7, 2018:
Over the past several months, Wisconsin lawmakers have waged a war on the state’s Medicaid program by requesting federal permission to add time-limits, work rules, and drug tests. But new data obtained by ThinkProgress suggests these drug tests are especially costly and virtually ineffective at enabling care. And if the Trump administration green-lights Wisconsin’s request, taxpayers will have to pay for it.
Requiring people who depend on government benefits to pee in a cup isn’t without precedent. At least 15 states, including Wisconsin, drug screen or test public assistance applicants. For three straight years, ThinkProgress collected state data on drug screening and learned that it’s expensive and yields few drug positive tests. This isn’t surprising, as a federal analysis on substance use among government assistance enrollees suggests abuse rates are only somewhat higher than general public. (Studies that report substance abuse rates higher than 15 percent define it to include a broader scope of alcohol and any illicit drug use within the past year rather than past month.) Continue reading “Wisconsin plans to drug test Medicaid recipients. Here’s why it’ll be a disaster.”