The so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” would force close to8 million people off of Medicaid – one in ten people enrolled in Medicaid nationwide. The bill’s deepest Medicaid cuts are tied to harsh new work requirements that would result in 5 to 7 million people losing their coverage, most of whom are already working, caring for loved ones, or unable to work due to an illness or injury. Work requirements are a failed policy idea that does more harm than good; their only function is to cut health coverage for low-income people to justify tax cuts for the wealthy.
These short profiles illustrate the harms proposed Medicaid work requirements would cause when applied to real life situations. This misguided, one-size fits all policy directive will not improve health or employment; it will mire workers, older adults, people with disabilities and chronic health conditions, and caregivers in unnecessary red tape that will take their Medicaid coverage away.
