In the latest poll by Politico and Morning Consult it was found that a bare majority (51%) of registered voters back the notion that individuals who have enrolled in Medicaid should also be required to work to be eligible for the benefits.
An in-depth breakdown of the poll results shows that 24% strongly support the idea while 27% are only favorable to the proposal. Conversely, 19% of respondents are in strong opposition of the idea while 18% are less vigorous in their opposition. 13% of those polled had no opinion.
Unsurprisingly, only 38% of democrats were in any way supportive of the Medicaid work plan, while Republicans were decidedly more enthusiastic about the idea, with 67% supporting it.
Furthermore, it was found that 68% of President Donald Trump’s voters back the idea of work requirements, but only 37% of Hillary Clinton’s votes supported work requirements.
Almost the same percentage of government employees and private employees claimed to support the idea of work requirements to be eligible for Medicaid benefits. 56% of individuals employed in the private sector versus 55% of government staff says individuals eligible for Medicaid benefits should be already working.
The good news is that the Senate has proposed this very plan in it’s Obamacare replacement, the Better Care Reconciliation Act.
“Our proposal will prohibit states from expanding into the current broken Medicaid system,” said Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. “It will provide the option for states to implement work requirements for Medicaid recipients. Most importantly, it will ensure the rug isn’t pulled from underneath any able-bodied patient as he or she transitions to other coverage.”
Jonathan Ingram, Researcher with the Foundation for Government Accountability believes that work requirements in Medicaid are vital to promoting self-sufficiency and transforming the current welfare programs from “handouts” to “hand-ups,” as they were originally intended.
“Medicaid work requirements are a powerful tool that can move millions of able-bodied adults out of dependency and into self-sufficiency,” said Ingram. “In both cash assistance and food stamps, work requirements led to lower enrollment and less time spent on welfare, preserving limited resources for the truly needy.”
“Better still,” he added, excitedly, “those leaving welfare went back to work in record numbers and saw their incomes more than double on average, earning more than enough to replace the welfare benefits they used to receive. The Trump administration should immediately approve states’ requests to implement common-sense work requirements in the Medicaid program.”