U.S. Congressman Aaron Bean (FL-04) and Congressman Scott Franklin (FL-18) have reintroduced a bill that would revamp work requirement for able-bodied Americans.
Congressman Bean wants requirements to apply to adults receiving Medicaid benefits who are not in school and have no dependents.
According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Bean’s proposal would save taxpayers $109 billion over the next decade.
As the number of people on Medicaid has increased to more than 93 million, the labor force participation rate has decreased to 62.5%. This legislation would require able-bodied adults aged 18-65 with no dependents to work, volunteer, or enroll in a school, a job training program, or a combination of all 3 for 80 hours a month to be eligible for Medicaid benefits.
Medicaid work requirements have changed over previous administrations. Under the Obama administration, they denied state requests to require work as a condition of Medicaid eligibility.
In his first term, President Trump supported states in applying for waivers to implement work requirements. But this all changed when Joe Biden was elected.
The Biden administration rescinded all state waivers for work requirements and said work requirements don’t promote Medicaid’s goals.
Now, in his second term, the Trump White House is looking to support GOP measures to strengthen Medicaid work requirements.
“Today, there are more than 1.5 million able-bodied adults on Medicaid who are not working. We can’t keep asking hardworking Americans to pay for services for their neighbors who do not work,” said Congressman Bean. “Imposing work requirements on able-bodied adults without a dependent is not only common sense, but it would allow working Americans to keep more of their hard-earned money.”
A 2023 Axios-Ipsos survey revealed that 63% of Americans supported work requirements for Medicaid and Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program benefits.
