In their scramble to figure out how to reduce spending, Republicans are touting the idea of tying work requirements to Medicaid — a move that would impact 36 million Americans and, as some lawmakers acknowledged, could ultimately increase Medicaid program costs in their states.
The House’s budget resolution tasked the committee that oversees Medicaid and Medicare with cutting $880 billion, meaning Republicans will almost certainly have to find ways to curtail federal spending on those programs.
One of their most politically palatable options would be to require approximately 36 million able-bodied Medicaid adults to prove they work or file paperwork for exemptions. Speaker Mike Johnson recently argued that work requirements, along with other cuts, could get them to that figure without reducing people’s benefits, though the Congressional Budget Office projected in 2023 that Medicaid work requirements would only save approximately $109 billion over ten years.