Are You at Risk of Losing Your Medicaid Due to Work Requirements?

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In January, the Trump administration announced huge changes to Medicaid, the health insurance program for low-income Americans: It said it would support states imposing work or other “community engagement” requirements for those using the program. This would be the first time in the program’s history that states would be allowed to require Americans to work a certain number of work hours in order to be eligible. And though the work requirements include exemptions for those who are elderly, disabled, or pregnant, among others, the new policies could put millions of adults at risk of losing their insurance.

In order to implement the work requirements, states had to apply and be approved for waivers from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Since then, five states—Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, New Hampshire, and Wisconsin—have been approved. Ten more have applied.

In Arkansas, one of the first states to begin implementing the work requirements, nearly 12,300 people have already been disenrolled from Medicaid due to non-compliance, according to state data. Thousands more are at risk of losing their insurance. Other states with approved waivers, such as Indiana and Wisconsin, hope to implement the work requirements next year.

As we continue reporting on this issue, Mother Jones wants to hear from you: Are you at risk of losing coverage because your state has applied for Medicaid work requirements? Have you recently lost coverage? Let us know in the form below, send us an email at talk@motherjones.com, or leave us a voicemail at (510) 519-MOJO. We may use some of your responses for a follow-up story.

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This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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