February 24, 2019
Purpose: Implement work requirements for certain Medicaid recipients.
Latest Action: Fri Feb 22- Bill survived Committee of the Whole in the House on a 30-28 vote.
Scheduled hearings: None (Bill is on 2nd Reading tomorrow.)
Background: The bill simply states that those who are receiving Medicaid benefits should work, study, or volunteer—ONLY for non-disabled adults of working age and without young children.
One of the Wyoming Republican Party priorities for the 2019 Session is to reduce the role of government in our health care system.
Three planks of our Party Platform support Work Requirements for able-bodied adults.
2018 Plank #4 includes: “Every individual has the right to develop his own potential, to use and enjoy his own property, tangible or intellectual, and pursue his own interests...”
Plank #7: The “government’s undue interference in the market…results in economic inequity. There exists no fundamental right to the fruits of another person’s labor.”
Plank #13: “Taxes should never be more than necessary.”
Nationally, 90% of Republican voters support Medicaid work requirements. Work requirements empower individuals to free themselves from the trap of dependency.
Medicaid as administered now incentivizes people to remain in poverty by discouraging work. Helping able-bodied individuals to gain work experience, job training and/or education, or volunteer in the community while receiving assistance from the taxpayers is common sense.
Assistance programs should serve as a safety net, not a hammock. To use a common saying, in the long run it is always better to teach a man to fish than to merely hand him a fish. Our job is to help people to become self-sufficient if they are physically, mentally and developmentally able.
Call to Action: Please contact your representatives and ask them to support SF0144! Tuesday’s Third Reading vote will be close.
Status of related bills:
Latest Action: Scheduled for 3rdReading tomorrow.
Latest Action: Failed to pass House Committee of the Whole on February 4th on a 23-36 vote.
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