In the past, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has supported work requirements for those on Medicaid. Many state republican leaders support it as well. So why hasn’t there been any type of implementation?
The reason why this hasn’t happened is that under the tax bill passed last year by Congressional Republicans, unless a state has enacted (under Obamacare) the Medicaid expansion portion, the federal rules dealing with work requirements don’t apply. Only to those states that have expanded their Medicaid programs and Florida is one of the states that hasn’t expanded.
But whether Medicaid expansion has happened in some states or not, free-market groups still support forcing able-bodied people to get back to work.
“No more free rides. Don’t believe the hysterics or the lies – Medicaid work requirements won’t kill anyone,” says Alexander Ciccone, who is the Policy and Government Affairs Manager for National Taxpayers Union.
Ciccone says getting people back to work isn’t that difficult.
The mandate requires able-bodied adults to spend just 20 hours a week working, studying, or volunteering.
“No longer can young, healthy men in the prime of their working years waste their time playing video games on the taxpayers’ dime. Americans over the age of 64, people with disabilities, and parents of children under 13 years of age are entirely exempt from the work mandate,” he said.
The problem started when Obamacare expanded Medicaid eligibility to able-bodied adults earning up to 138% of the federal poverty level. And under Obamacare, states receive significantly higher federal dollars for the able-bodied expansion population than for recipients such as low-income children, or adults who are disabled or pregnant.
Ciccone says this funding structure incentivized state Medicaid agencies to expand enrollment among able-bodied adults. This process caused higher federal spending while shifting resources away from at-risk recipients for whom the program was originally intended.
