Entitlements: When President Trump released his budget, the hue and cry over its supposedly devastating cuts to Medicaid was deafening. But with or without Trump's budget, change is coming to this and other entitlement programs, and for the better.
Trump's budget called for reforms of Medicaid, food stamps and other entitlement programs with a goal of moving as many as possible out of these government programs and toward jobs and self-reliance. Chief among the changes is a push to add work requirements to able-bodied adults as a condition of getting benefits.
As White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney correctly observed: "We are no longer going to measure compassion by the number of programs or the number of people on those programs. We're going to measure compassion and success by the number of people we help get off those programs and get back in charge of their own lives."
Last week, for example, Indiana said it plans to add a work requirement to its Medicaid expansion program, which it calls Healthy Indiana. Able-bodied enrollees would have to either be working part-time, enrolled full-time in school, or participating in the state's job-training program.
Wisconsin is preparing to overhaul its Medicaid program — which it calls BadgerCare — to include drug screening and time limits on coverage unless enrollees are looking for work or training for a job.
Maine announced in April that it hopes to overhaul its Medicaid program to include a work requirement. Arizona wants to impose a five-year limit on Medicaid, as well as a work requirement and monthly premiums. Kentucky wants to charge a small monthly premium to Medicaid enrollees, and remove people who don't pay. Florida and Ohio may also push for work requirements.
This is how it should be. Welfare isn't meant to be a substitute for work. It's supposed to provide a temporary floor for those who hit a difficult patch. Getting people off Medicaid, food stamps and other programs should be as important as making such programs available.
and by get back in charge of their own lives they of course mean off their books and then who the fuck cares what happens to them. they're poor. it's not like they're people or anything.
