On Work Requirements for Receiving Health Care Under Medicaid

Following is a statement from Christine Owens, Executive Director, National Employment Law Project:

“The National Employment Law Project strongly condemns today’s decision by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) allowing states to impose work requirements on low-income Americans who need health care under Medicaid.

“Not only are such requirements of questionable legality, but study after study shows that access to health care makes it easier for people to look for and obtain employment. Yet the administrative and substantive hurdles that any sort of work requirement would necessarily entail would inevitably lead to many workers and job-seekers losing access to health care.

“If the Trump administration were serious about really helping people find good jobs that can sustain themselves and their families, it wouldn’t be wasting time with draconian proposals such as this, but instead, would be actively investing in the same workforce development system that it proposed to reduce by 21 percent in last year’s Presidential Budget.”

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