Community Catalyst

Medicaid Work Requirements

Medicaid work requirements strip health care access from people by forcing them to navigate complex bureaucratic systems to prove they work enough hours to deserve coverage. While proponents claim these policies promote employment, evidence shows they fail to increase work participation or save money. Instead, they create devastating barriers for those already struggling - especially caregivers, older adults, people with disabilities and chronic conditions, and workers with unpredictable schedules who often lose coverage due to missed paperwork deadlines or rigid reporting rules, not because they don't qualify.

These requirements are emerging alongside tax policies benefiting corporations and wealthy individuals, revealing their true function: not to support employment, but to restrict health care access for families and individuals while redistributing financial gain upward.

Community Catalyst has created an engaging explainer video that breaks down this complex issue into clear, actionable insights to raise awareness about work requirements. Use this video to share with your audience: MEDICAID WORK REQUIREMENTS DON'T WORK!

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Your health care shouldn't disappear because your hours were cut at work or your latest job offer fell through. But that's exactly what Medicaid work requirements do. Imagine a mom in Georgia who picks up shifts as a rideshare driver to make ends meet. Some weeks she drives 60 hours. Others, when her car needs repairs or business is slow, she might only get 10 hours. Under Medicaid work requirements, those slow weeks could cost her and her family health care coverage. Millions of people with irregular work schedules, caregivers, and people with disabilities or chronic conditions face an impossible situation in a demanding job market: unpredictable hours, irregular income, and endless paperwork to prove they "deserve" health care. These cruel and inefficient rules are making us sicker and poorer. Share if you agree: Health care is a right, not a privilege.

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Medicaid work requirements DON’T WORK. They just strip care from caregivers, people with disabilities, chronic conditions, & workers with irregular schedules through endless paperwork. It's never been about "encouraging work" — it's about denying care & pushing families into medical debt.

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Medicaid work requirements DON'T WORK — they create barriers through paperwork, harming caregivers, people with disabilities & chronic conditions & workers with irregular schedules. They deny access to health care & force families into medical debt.

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Medicaid work requirements are a direct attack on family caregivers. In attempting to define “real” work, these policies neglect the demanding and critical act of providing care. Millions provide unpaid family care — and bureaucrats tell them their labor is worthless. This is wrong & cruel.

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While politicians hand tax breaks to corporations and billionaires, they're imposing cuts and restrictions to Medicaid that strip health care from real families and individuals to fund these handouts. Some missed paperwork or a lost deadline means someone has to choose between insulin and groceries. A supervisor cutting back hours or a gig falling through equals canceling your cancer screenings. A burdensome reporting requirement leaves a caregiver who works over 60 hours a week without medication to help manage their anxiety. 4 in 10 adults in our country are struggling with medical debt. Adding work requirements to Medicaid doesn’t create jobs or strengthen the economy — it simply pushes more families into financial crisis while the wealthy get another tax cut.

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Medicaid work requirements devalue family caregivers by refusing to recognize their vital, unpaid labor. Bureaucrats tell millions of people that caring for loved ones isn't "real" work—ignoring the demanding reality of caregiving. This is wrong & cruel.

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Medicaid work requirements are ineffective and inefficient policies that strip health care from families, caregivers, people with disabilities and chronic conditions, and workers with irregular schedules. This hurts real people. When someone loses coverage, a $50 prescription becomes $500 out of pocket. A routine check-up turns into thousands in debt. A surprise accident can spiral into years of medical debt that follows families everywhere — affecting their credit, housing options, and ability to save for the future. 4 in 10 people in our country are drowning in medical debt. Meanwhile politicians are using these cuts to Medicaid to pay for excessive tax breaks and handouts to corporations and billionaires. This isn’t just wrong. It’s cruel.

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