Medicaid is under attack.

Mandating work requirements

Work requirements are Medicaid cuts by another name. Politicians are currently pushing for work requirement policies that are more extreme than any proposal we’ve seen before. By demanding that Medicaid enrollees spend hours upon hours filling out convoluted paperwork before they even get covered, these requirements make it significantly harder for eligible people to get enrolled and keep their coverage. 

Imposing work requirements for people who get their health insurance through Medicaid won’t do anything to fight the corporate greed that’s driving up health care costs—but these requirements willpunish people for being sick.

Increasing out-of-pocket costs

Another Medicaid proposal would require states to apply cost sharing (more commonly known as co-payments) for some people enrolled in Medicaid, all of whom already have low-incomes. When faced with increased costs, research shows that people will forego necessary care, ration critical medications, and avoid preventative services—ultimately leading to huge negative consequences for their health.

Threatening necessary care for marginalized populations

Alongside existential threats to the Medicaid program as a whole, recent policy proposals have explicitly targeted health care access for transgender people, immigrants, and anyone seeking reproductive health care. These dangerous political attacks include gender-affirming care bans, penalties to states using their own funds to insure undocumented residents, and arbitrarily excluding all Planned Parenthood services from the Medicaid program, despite the fact that federal funding already cannot go toward abortions.

These restrictions make it difficult or impossible for these populations to access life-saving health care, ultimately putting thousands of people at risk.