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Brigit Carrasco-Angon

Social Issues

No Work, No Public Assistance

October 10, 2018

The Vulnerable vs The Able-bodied

A recent change in the administration policy for public assistance has caused a

controversy about how to properly aid people who need it. The issue is that more people who are

able-bodied are depending on public assistance, leaving people with disabilities, pregnancy,

caregivers etc. with fewer possibilities to get the help they require. To solve the issue, a new

policy for public assistance, allows states to implement requirements like making able-bodied

people work in exchange for Medicaid. However, the solution already has people who support or

against it. People supporting the new policy agree with beneficiaries working, entering rehab, or

doing volunteer hours. It would also motivate able-bodied people to become self-sufficient. The

opposing view argues that denying public assistance to citizens, who can’t prove their needs, will

leave them in a worse situation.

Forcing able-bodied people to work for Medicaid would not only protect taxpayer money

but it would cease citizens from depending on public services, according to Sally Pipes in

Forbes. As of January 2018, states were given permission to demand 80 hours of participation,

from people with no disabilities, at work, school, etc, stated in Forbes. The more people put in

work, the more independent they will become and will not take from the needy. In A Michigan

News Source report by the Michigan Capitol Confidential Staff Reports, data showed that from

the year 2000 to 2016 there was a 71 percent increase in Medicaid enrollment. The number of

enrollments skyrocketed in Michigan during 2013, when Medicaid expanded under Obamacare.
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It can be implied that other states experienced similar results when Medicaid was expanded.

Now, the laws are steering away from expanding public services to people attempting to live off

of it instead of using it temporarily.

Public services were designed to provide help to people who have barriers. In the

National Review, Nicholas Horton explains that 17.5 million people outnumber those with

disabilities in Medicaid. The safety net carries approximately 13 million able-bodied adults

instead of individuals who rely on welfare because they need it, as stated in the National Review.

To better track citizens use of public assistance, a state by state scorecard for Medicaid and CHIP

has been created, as announced on CMS. The scorecard would demonstrate an individuals

progress to the nation and teach others how to succeed. Both the beneficiaries and taxpayers

would know the progress of the public services.

The opponents, of citizens working for public assistance, dispute that it is difficult to

prove who is able-bodied. In the New York Times, Emily Badger and Margot Sanger-Katz

explain that the term “able-bodied” does not qualify as a demographic label. No standards have

been placed on what makes someone able-bodied or not, whether it be physical or mental. An

example in the New York Times is, a blind person can do a job that someone suffering from

depression could not. Yet, most people would argue that the person suffering from depression

should be able to do the job because the individual is body able.

Another point, made by the PEW stateline article, is that people who lose their health

insurance will end up in a worse situation due to a lack of medicine. PEW discussed a study that

demonstrated that requiring work for those in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families

program, did not drastically reduce the portion of families struggling financially. Apart from the

insignificant number of people who may benefit, Alexa Elejalde-Ruiz contends in the Chicago
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Tribune, that low-income people may want to work but they face barriers. Some of those barriers

may include having a lack of education, transportation, dealing with sexual violence etc. Able-

bodied people get labeled as lazy but people do not acknowledge the environment that holds

them in poverty.

Personally, I believe that the current format allowing states to force able-bodied people to

work is not the best. Although it sounds appealing, the new policies do not acknowledge how

tedious it would be for someone to prove that they have a disadvantage. Many people struggle

with mental health issues which are harder to demonstrate unless diagnosed (which requires

healthcare). Another interesting point, rich people always want to cut funds to people living in

poverty but hardly modify the taxes of the top one percent. The argument is that it will save

taxpayers money but the rich usually end up taking the taxpayer money through intricate laws. If

someone is going to be benefitting from taxpayer money, it might as well be impoverished

people. Finally, I agree with Alexa Elejalde-Ruiz, the environment in which poor people are

living in may lack resources to go to work or participate in the community.

The issue, on whether people with no disabilities should work to receive public

assistance, needs to be resolved because there are real people that are going to be affected. Now,

that may not directly affect taxpayers who are going to “pay less” towards those programs but it

may impact them indirectly. If a financially stable person ever loses their job, those laws are

going to apply to them. Not everyone has someone or something to rely on if they are struggling

financially. Most of the people who enrolled in Medicaid through the Obamacare expansion were

probably relieved to finally have health care. Now that the new state policies are being tested,

those people are concerned about how they can document their needs. The PEW acknowledged

that people required to work for public assistance hardly impacted family units in poverty. To
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solve the issue of able-bodied people not working, availability in resources must change. People

will then be able to get out of poverty.

Citations

Badger, Emily, and Margot Sanger-Katz. “Who's Able-Bodied, Anyway?” The New York Times,
The New York Times, 3 Feb. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/02/03/upshot/medicaid-able-
bodied-poor-politics.html.
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Elejalde-Ruiz, Alexia. “No Work, No Medicaid? Illinois Reviews New Federal Guidelines.”
Chicagotribune.com, Chicago Tribune, 12 Jan. 2018, www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-
medicaid-work-requirements-illinois-indiana-wisconsin-0112-story.html.

Horton, Nicholas. “Medicaid Expansion Is Helping Able-Bodied Adults Instead of the Truly
Needy.” National Review, National Review, 9 Apr. 2018,
www.nationalreview.com/2018/04/medicaid-expansion-is-helping-able-bodied-adults-instead-of-
the-truly-needy/.

Michigan Capitol Confidential Staff Reports | Nov. 16, 2017. “Half Of Able-Bodied Michigan
Medicaid Expansion Enrollees Don't Work.” Michigan Capitol Confidential, Mackinac Center,
16 Nov. 2017, www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/half-of-able-bodied-michigan-medicaid-
expansion-enrollees-dont-work.

Pipes, Sally. “To Save Medicaid, Put People To Work.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 5 Sept. 2018,
www.forbes.com/sites/sallypipes/2018/09/04/to-save-medicaid-put-people-to-
work/#19e123817acc.

“Speech: Remarks by Administrator Seema Verma at the National Association of Medicaid

Directors (NAMD) 2017 Fall Conference | CMS.” CMS.gov , U.S. Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services, 7 Nov. 2017, www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/speech-remarks-
administrator-seema-verma-national-association-medicaid-directors-namd-2017-fall.

Stateline Article. “Where the Work-for-Welfare Movement Is Heading.” The Pew Charitable
Trusts, The Pew Charitable Trusts, 25 Jan. 2018, www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-
analysis/blogs/stateline/2018/01/25/where-the-work-for-welfare-movement-is-heading.