State experiments with #WorkRequirements have been plagued with administrative issues, such as eligible enrollees' losing #coverage over paperwork problems, & budget overruns. Georgia's work requirement, which officially launched in July 2023, has cost >$90 million, with only $26 million of that spent on #health benefits, according to the Georgia Budget & Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research organization.

As voluminous research literature shows, #WorkRequirements achieve savings by implementing burdensome paperwork obligations that mostly take #Medicaid from eligible beneficiaries, not 25-yr-old guys who prefer playing video games to getting a job.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that, by imposing #Medicaid #WorkRequirements, the bill would eventually increase the #uninsured population by at least 8.6M. At first, #Republicans tried to defend this outcome on the grounds that it would affect only lazy people who refuse to work. This is clearly untrue, however.

" #WorkRequirements have received the most attention, with much of the criticism focused on the ethics of cutting costs by making health care access contingent on employment. But those debates are a distraction from Republicans’ actual goal: pushing eligible people off the program."

#Republicans on the party's right flank had pushed for deeper #spending #cuts to lessen the #budget impact, but met resistance from centrists who worried that would fall too heavily on the 71 million #LowIncome Americans enrolled in #Medicaid.

#MikeJohnson made changes to address conservatives' concerns, pulling forward new #WorkRequirements for Medicaid recipients to take effect at the end of 2026, 2yrs earlier than before. That would kick SEVERAL MILLION people off the program.

@SeanCasten and it’s a huge problem for people who are disabled but who haven’t been deemed disabled by Social Security yet. I ran into this issue when I moved back to New Hampshire from California well I was waiting for my disability appeal hearing. At the time New Hampshire was still trying to avoid expanding Medicaid at all, so even though I literally had zero income the state said I wasn’t disabled because I might be able to work if I had spine surgery, but I couldn’t have Medicaid and be evaluated for spine surgery because I’m not disabled because I might be able to work if I had spine surgery.

I had to fight them for 10 months and the only reason I won was because I found a spine surgeon who would see me and bill me later and he determined that I wasn’t actually a candidate for spine surgery. He was able to write me a letter in time for the fair hearing so I won. I also won food stamps. They were really mad about it they had to give me like $3000 worth because they withheld them for 10 months when I should have been receiving them.

People will die. The only reason I didn’t die is because my mom helped me, because I had a PCP who would see me and bill me later, and the few times I needed pharmaceuticals I somehow figured out how to get money for them.

3) create a captive pool of cheap labor for their other corporate donors
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#GOP #WorkRequirements #inequality #poverty #welfare #NBER

"[US] law says that a state must have 50% of all families and 90% of two-parent families receiving assistance engaged in either work or activities."
-- The Congressional Research Service
PDF:
https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IN/IN12150
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#welfare #WorkRequirements #tanf #CRS #congress

"Under the TANF block grant, the federal government requires states to (1) meet the annual work participation rates determined by the federal government and (2) ensure that every recipient is working (as defined by the state) as soon as the state determines he or she is able or after 24 months of benefit receipt, whichever is earlier. States that do not meet the federal requirements may be sanctioned financially"
-- The Urban Institute
PDF:
https://wrd.urban.org/wrd/Data/databooks/2020%20Welfare%20Rules%20Databook%20(final%2002%2023%202022).pdf#page=147
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#tanf #WorkRequirements

I agree with #SharonParrott, president of #CBPP:

"The agreement puts hundreds of thousands of older adults aged 50-54 at risk of losing food assistance, including a large number of women

"A large share of low-income adults in this age range are in poor health

“While the new exemptions are positive, improvements for some don’t justify expanding to others a failed policy that will increase and deepen poverty”
https://www.cbpp.org/press/statements/debt-ceiling-agreement-reflects-improvements-over-house-bill-harmful-provisions
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#WorkRequirements #DebtCeiling #uspolitics