If you have to work to obtain "aid," it isn't "aid" - it's below-minimum-wages paid for dead-end compulsory work.
"Compulsory work" is just a euphemism for slave labor.
Notice which group of people have to do compulsory work to obtain "aid."
And of course, all the hours a compulsory worker spends at his/her compulsory work "job" at pittance wages, is time that cannot be spent striving to better oneself through education, training, or searching for a better job with a future.
Yeah, Republicans - good way to keep "those people" poor and downtrodden.
65
Oh, of course--if you are white you are exempt from everything.
18
Work should include not spending your time on your golf courses, or watching tv, or arranging bribes, when you’re on the federal payroll.
66
This is grotesque. I don't even think Trump & his den of thieves believe what they say. It's all about keeping up the lie that poor people are the villains, while the rich are robbing everyone else blind.
30
I recently posted an admin job opening on Craigslist for $15 an hour to start and $20 hour after a month.
I got exactly one response. She’s Chinese and after getting a BFA in Cali is getting an MBA at U if Utah next semester
The only problem with her ...is that she is so good that her other employer monopolizes most of her time. Poor me.
11
"Are you poor because of where you live ?", or "Are you poor because of poor choices ?" is the same question. If a county has a high unemployment rate, people should move to where the jobs are. But the poor white snowflakes might then have to move into a more diverse city, so that isn't even considered.
This entire endeavor is just one more attempt by the Republicans to hurt non-whites.
17
No one understands hard work like Donald Trump. In fact he's been "working" on his golf swing for what, 40% of his time in office so far. Trump understands that no one should get things for free. And so does his lawyer, the man who got $600,000 from AT+T for some "advise" about the new Trump administration. That's earning money the hard way!
26
There is one goal here, and only one, if you vote Republican you're exempt. But, you know, make it look like something else.
15
So, the State Senate in my native state of Michigan found a way to divide those deserving and undeserving of basic health care along lines that are uncomfortably close to old style Jim Crow. Complete with a "who, us?" tortured procedural justification for the outcome of their lawmaking as purely unintended, and not racially-motivated at all. Thus bringing up again the spectre of other recent prominent instances where the basic health of African-Americans, and even their right not be poisoned, has been purposely disregarded by our state's Republican government.
I would like to say that this starkly visible prejudice, this neo-Jim Crow, which effectively devalues the lives of some people, many of them innocent children, against the lives of others based on their skin color (complete with a ridiculous excuse for this clearly planned outcome) doesn't represent who Michiganders actually are. I would like to say that, but, as time goes on in Michigan, and the state's politics becomes increasingly marked by such efforts to marginalize the rights, health, and safety of non-white citizens, I cannot.
17
To answer the question posed ("Which poor people shouldn't have to work for aid?"), I'd say the answer most elected Republicans would prefer is "white people", or more exactly "old, white people who are registered as Republicans and vote for me." The problem is reverse engineering a map, so that the lines can be drawn to exclude the "undeserving" (blacks, Democrats, etc) while protecting the people who voted for them-while appearing to be constitutional.
13
"Able-bodied" is one thing. But able-minded is just as important. And here's the problem. Perhaps if all social services were coordinated, with efforts on education, training, transportation and mental and physical health, we'd be able to reach the seemingly unemployable. But we pay little attention and little compensation to teachers, social and mental health professionals, and fail to target the people who most need outreach. Adding to insult is removing family planning services and sex education for youth. So look for more at risk children and families needing support..
31
“Work” should also include community service work. All labor has dignity.
20
To all those who insist on people working for public assistance. Have you ever actually tried living on the little that is given out. Those who are accessing it are the most vulnerable. We already have a housing crisis and food security issues. Why compound it with healthcare? Why make childcare and public transit so difficult to fund? It truly makes no sense unless the plan is to punish people for being poor/working class in the first place.
Using race/nationality as a cudgel seems to continue to be the best way to make sure these obviously backward and pointless policies continue to have a life. That and Republicans can't get enough of blaming the victim. Their solution create more of them so we can increase the suffering of the nation without actually coming together as a nation and actually solve the problem.
20
Imagine if we took all the time and money spent on figuring out who deserves help simply helping those who need it.
40
where one lives is also a choice. If Wayne county is so much better off than say up state, let them move. Feed them some cake on the way.
8
I'm certain that's what the GOP legislators and governor would say if the tables were turned, and those northern rural counties were full of poor non-white people.
7
Ohio is even worse. Cuyahoga county where inner city Cleveland is the heart, is ravaged by poverty, yet surrounded by relatively affluent white suburbs in the same county. Driving down unemployment by totals percentage. Republicans keep winning by demonizing the victims in our state. The most segregated places in America are now in the North.
17
Enterprises big & small - may they be paying minimum wage hourly or 5-6 figures yearly, anywhere - not only need able bodies, but also able minds (open to continuing training for world-class competitiveness) & reliable work ethic from those they hire.
How many of the able-bodied, working age, welfare recipients of any skin color, in both rural & urban areas, are unemployable due to being exposed to IQ-lowering, impulsive behavior-driving lead in their usually older homes' paint, plumbing, etc.?
How many of them have neurologically damaging Fetal Alcohol Sydrome - w/ moms chugging down alcohol while pregnant w/ them, to deal w/ the freezing weather, long rural or urban blue collar work hours, etc.?
Many lead/alcohol-damaged babies do look physically normal as they grow, but they struggle w/ academics and social skills.
Some self-medicate w/ drugs, booze, lousy diets, smoking, vaping, etc.
If/when they find work, they have trouble staying employed since they're not as trainable or reliable compared to others. They get eventually fired or laid off.
Just asking them to move to where the jobs are, or endlessly giving them SNAP & cash they'll abuse (ex. buying junk food & drink for themselves &/or to re-sell; staying in Sec. 8 homes they'll trash; etc.) is useless.
Ongoing life skills counseling &/or living in supervised group homes (if no responsible family/friends can house them) near tolerant farms/svc/mfg jobs or volunteer work must be required of the able-bodied jobless!
4
For the betterment of the welfare system, the government should proactively help welfare systems to become independent. Have we considered such support systems as relocation expenses, living in locations where potential employees can take public transportation, providing public child care assistance? I don't think the government wants to spend the money on those things but should consider it. Federal/state support in these areas might benefit not only the individuals, families but would likely reduce crime.
6
Some comments suggest that moving will solve this problem.
Moving is a glib solution that doesn't take low-income realities into consideration. If you don't have transportation to get to a job locally, how are you going to travel for an interview? And if you manage to get a job in another city, where's the money coming from to pay moving expenses? Security deposits and utility deposits, for instance. You have to work two weeks to get a paycheck or sometimes a whole month. Where do you live in the meantime?
Many low-income people who are looking for work crash where they can with friends and relatives. Otherwise, they're homeless. And if you're a single mom with a couple of children who can currently rely on grandparents, what about child care in a new city? Any idea how expensive that is? If you are unskilled and low income enough to qualify for benefits, child care and rent could eat up your entire full-time paycheck regardless of where you live, especially since rents tend to be higher in prosperous cities.
Moving is a solution only if you have a financial cushion or you happen to have family or good friends in your destination.
This is the only developed country in the world that takes so much glee in planting a boot firmly on the backs of the disadvantaged and taunting them to get up and make something of themselves. Giving them a meaningful hand to get up would be much more effective but wouldn't allow those who are already comfortable to feel so superior.
69
For years I worked as a legal aid attorney with very poor people in rural NC.
One young man, a client of mine, had been kicked out of his home by his mother at age 16. He managed to obtain a GED on his own, while living with his grandmother. He became homeless after she died and "lived rough" for a year, couch surfing and eating free venison and food from a local church food bank. He had several job opportunities in construction, but he needed a driver's license before they would hire him. Before he could get the driver's license, he needed glasses so he could pass the eye test. He was legally blind without them. He didn't qualify for Medicaid (in NC, no one over 21 got Medicaid unless they were pregnant or disabled), so I found an eye doc who would see him for free. But my client had no way to get the appointment, and no money to purchase the glasses prescribed for him. After contacting a number of state agencies and private foundations to find one who would pay for glasses, I found that none would, because he wasn't Medicaid eligible. I finally drove him to the eye doc, and paid for the glasses myself. When I last met with him, he had a job and was on the road to being independent and a tax payer. Most middle class Americans cannot imagine confronting those obstacles just to get glasses, a driver's license, and a job.
100
An underlying assumption here is that people cannot, or should not be compelled to, move to where there are jobs. Throughout history, socio-economic mobility has correlated, to varying extents, to moving to where the work is. Rather than exempting able folks from working based on statistical unemployment levels where they happen to reside at a moment in time, we should be encouraging folks to move to where the jobs are. This point dovetails with the racial point -- if this is a racist policy, it is also a policy designed to lock down populations where they are and cement that racism in its present geographic framework.
8
This is a super simplistic solution that has no value in the real world. If this is a racist policy? It is obviously racist. Similar to the tax law that punishes blue states, this law makes it so that those advocating this geographical delineation of the deserving and non-deserving by shoring up those who likely advocate for these pointless and stupid policies while making sure that those in areas that don't vote Republican get slammed as hard as possible.
5
The unemployed people in Detroit Flint etc are absolutely welcome to come up to these falsely-described high unemployment counties.
We DESPERATELY need workers for the peak business season - April through Sept.
Those northern counties (that the NYT lies and calls 'poor with high unemployment") have unemployment rates of 3-4% during those months.
Businesses are bringing in workers from Europe and the Caribbean as it is.
7
Ann, then what happens the rest of the year after the peak season is over?
How do they travel to the northern counties if they have no cars? Where do they live during "peak season" - and how much money would they make?
So if I'm unemployed and need assistance they want to cut off my assistance unless I find a job? So give me a test to see what I can do and then hire me. Many employers are racist and bigoted and either won't hire or underpay people of color but our government is supposed to be colorblind,right?
If all they do is cut off peoples assistance they will add to homelessness and peoples suffering.....maybe that is the plan.....
compassionate conservatives eh?
28
The old and disabled should obviously, not held to the standard. Every able-bodied adults, regardless of where they live should be . If you live too far from where you can get a job, move . The country has become far too permissive in flimsy excuses as to why grown men and women cannot get up each morning, get a job and go to work, it’s over, and I for one am glad it is.
The country has become far to permissive in flimsy excuses as to why grown men and women cannot get up each morning, get a job and go to work, it’s over, and I for one am glad it is do you like six years of college, working for $20,000 a year under horrible bosses, no, I kept my head down and I kept on keeping on, it’s called fortitude, that’s how you get ahead, not complaining .
This comment will surely get a lot of the liberals in the weather, but this come after fines very little sympathy for anyone who can’t get up and provide for his own family
14
Crossing, exactly how is someone who is unemployed, has no money and no car, supposed to move? Where will they get the first month's rent, security, utilities security, food, etc. until they find a job?
How can someone find a job with no car, unless they live in a place like a big city with good public transit? But rents in big cities are very high...
And you do know that most of the poor in this country - other than children, elderly, and disabled - are the working poor - right? People who work full-time, even more than one job, and still don't make enough to make ends meet, and need the help of benefits such as SNAP (Food Stamps) or Medicaid.
11
You have a typo in the first line of the article
When you write, “Exhorted by President Trump....” . The proper spelling should be “Extorted by...”
Kids i suggest you lock up your piggy banks he’ll target stealing them next.
9
Democracy is only a word in a land where the few live as vultures off of the efforts of the many. And a meaningless word at that. This article describes the efforts of the few to marshal one section of the "industrial reserve army" (the poor) against the other using the social construct of "race" as a pretext doling out pennies. How miserable. How pathetic. How disturbing.
11
I'd argue that it is part and parcel of our American heritage.
3
Why, one might almost get the impression that a race-baiting GOP, together with a Preesident who's done worse, is fulfilling their tacit campaign promise: to go after black people, who as we all know are the only welfare cheats.
My only surprise is that the word, "Obamaphone," hasn't come up yet.
10
This is Michigan hillbilly logic for who "deserves" aid and who does not. They obviously hired some professionals to do the modeling.
4
How is it not obvious to people that Republicans simply carry water for the oligarchs. They entrench the position of oligopolists while make sure the poor war against each other for the scraps.
Over 200 years of this nonsense and people are still too stupid to see through it.
18
Blatant racism is blatant.
9
" .. Detroit is one of the most expensive places in the United States to insure a car .."
.. because a lot of cars are stolen there.
And Michigan is the *only* state with unlimited medical coverage for auto insurance, look it up.
BTW: Detroit is the center of the USA automobile industry, e.g., Henry Ford of Dearborn.
Detroit is also the largest USA city to have ever declared bankruptcy.
6
Does anyone have any doubt that, if rural areas were predominantly black, this color-blind exemption would not be flipped?
Let's just cut to the quick and prescribe that black people need to work for benefits because they have made a choice, while white people get the benefits without working because they are find themselves in an unfortunate circumstance.
26
This is racism by legilation, pure and simple. Living as I do in a rural part of Missouri, I know full-well that attaching work requirements to Medicaid will inevitably result in food shortage for many, many people (the vast majority of whom are white in my area). But never did I imagine that legislators would design a work requirement that protects these rural poor while people while enforcing punitive requirements on urban people of color. This is so wrong! I can only hope that the court system will overrule these blatantly racist legislative actions.
33
Excuse me, but Medicaid is a health insurance program. How does attaching work requirements to a health insurance program effect access to food? And you are blindly accepting the writers' assertion that these requirements were designed to harm African Americans. I wouldn't accept that assertion at face value.
2
Here we go again. Traditionally the extreme republicans make the rich richer and the extreme democrats make the poor poorer.
Classic examples of this are in the 1970s, the liberals put a million poor people on welfare in NYC with no hope of getting them off and created the welfare state.
Trump and the republicans now are doing the opposite. The gap between the super rich and the super poor is greater now than any time in modern history.
Use common sense. Don't require a truly sick person to work but don't put able bodied people on the dole without requiring them to work.
6
You actually should use facts. When has any part of this country put "a million" people on welfare? Which is not a thing by the way, a best it is a colloquial term. There are different programs (Medicaid, "food stamps" and the like) that people call "welfare" but they are all separate programs and you have to jump through hoops to get any of them and it is not nor has it ever been guaranteed. This is just more pointless legislation and policy that is looking for a solution to a problem that doesn't exist in the way they are framing it. It's pretty clear that national and often state policy hopes to punish as many of the urban poor as possible while pretending that such people's problem is that they are "lazy" or don't "try hard enough" to help themselves instead of looking at the policies that contribute to things like poor public transit or the lack of affordable housing, healthcare and childcare. It is bigger than simply getting a small paycheck that rarely even covers rent much less all the things necessary to actually live in this country.
10
Stop JUST STOP with the rigged data nonsense.
That is an unemployment map from MID-WINTER when the SEASONAL WORKERS are LAID OFF due to weather.
The northern counties are dependent upon tourism & other industries dependent upon the outdoors and weather.
Using the winter math is bogus. The 2 dark orange counties have an unemployment rate of 3 to 4% when the workers are not laid off due to weather. They go up to 20-24% unemployment because of workers LAID OFF
The northern counties are soooo desperate for workers during the season (April -Oct) that businesses are bringing in workers from Europe & the Caribbean.
Too bad blacks in Detroit, Flint etc do not want to come up & work for 6-7 months & then qualify for unemployment for 20 weeks.
The tourism workers manage just fine without public transport. They routinely commute 10-25 miles to work for their $10 -15. hour jobs.
And so many do it that the unemployment in these counties is among the 10 LOWEST in the state.
Too bad the blacks in Detroit can't get themselves 6-7 miles out into their own county to take a job
BTW, is a worker is laid off and drawing unemployment ANYWHERE in the state, they are excused from the work requirement & only have to meet the unemployment rule of applying for 2 jobs a week.
And the small number of unemployed during the high winter unemployment in those counties who are not getting employment would merely have to do the same - 2 applications a week - under the proposed rule.
7
Twice in my working life of 40+ years I had to turn down jobs because of transportation issues. I live in NYC now, but in my home town public transportation did not run all night. This was a problem for one job that ended at 2:30 am for another that started at 8:00 am, but was a 3-hour commute each way. The buses I needed to take did not run that early. Walking was not an option in either case (way too far and it would not have been even remotely safe). I know you're pooh-poohing transportation issues, but they can be real impediments.
BTW, in case you're wondering, I did not go on public assistance. I was young, still living at home in the second instance mentioned here. I'd moved into my first apartment by the time the first happened. I kept the job I had and turned down the much higher paying one that ended at 2:30 am (it was seasonal with a chance at becoming permanent. I would have had to work both, but at 22 or 23 was willing to do this at the time. It would have only been for a few months).
14
I love when people refer to Black people as "the blacks". Let's you know how they see them.
I also would like to see how white people in those rural counties would react to a bunch of Black people from Detroit and Flint coming there for work.
Cars cost money, which is why people use public transit. If public transit doesn't exist (which is often by design — gotta keep that "element" out of our area) how do you get across town much less six or so miles out of your area to get to a job? You've twisted your logic so much that it is divorced from the reality that "the blacks of Detroit" actually have to contend with.
6
Gee, why are the tourism employers recruiting seasonal workers from Europe instead of downstate Detroit? What is different about Eastern Europeans compared to Detroiters? Could it be race????
8
The Michigan legislature is a prime example of the dangers of gerrymandering and term limits, and this Michigan Senate proposal is just the latest example of the (rural, predominantly white, Republican) minority in Michigan trying to stick it to the (urban/suburban Democratic) majority and the African American community. It is hard to see how any legislation enacted along the lines of what is being proposed will survive a "disparate impact" challenge under civil rights laws. Still, I do not understand this desire by the politically powerful to harm those requiring the most assistance. But if the Republicans in Michigan truly believe their own hyperbole that the poor need to be incentivized to find gainful employment, shouldn't the Senate proposal be the exact opposite in order to incentivize Michigan's rural poor to move to where jobs are more plentiful????
12
Human Rights to decent, reasonable housing, food, clothing, education should happen at birth. That should be the basic, minimum. That will be, in the Future. It looks like Human Rights are being stolen from people, by people. This will not be happening in the Future, as more intelligent, educated people, are in leadership positions.
"Worldly", will be the trend word within The Middle Class, and Lower Class. In the Upper Class, worldly is already there. That is why they are the true, real Upper Class. The Trumps are not Upper Class. The billionaires that funded Trump and Pence, are not Upper Class. ---- This work for Human Rights policy is far away from what will be occurring in the Future. The Republican Party and The Trumps and The Pences will be out-of-business since they are so off track.
This legislation is an embarrassment for Michigan. Simply requiring already working Medicaid recipients to document paid work will push thousands upon thousands off health insurance coverage. Many low wage workers have irregular schedules. My son would be grateful if his employer would post a weekly schedule and stick to it. His schedule is adjusted daily. How is it possible to document sufficient hours? What about those with mental health conditions? Health care is a pathway to gainful employment. Those losing coverage will never be able to purchase coverage on the individual insurance market thanks to the Republican tax scam. While some worry about the "lazy undeserving," researchers show that these cases are uncommon. These laws are designed to mislead by overstating this, leading to division and resentment. There are significant intergenerational implications as well. If Dad loses coverage and can't buy needed medication, his college student son may be forced to drop out of school. This legislation is bad economic policy- bad for the individuals, their families and for Michigan.
17
What a curious title: "Which Poor People Shouldn't Have To Work For Aid?"
Congress just passed a $1.5 TRILLION PLUS "tax cut".
Everyone - except the poorest of the poor - got a tax reduction.
The poorest of the poor got a 20% INCREASE!
Now, I don't recall in that "tax cut" that sent millions into the checking accounts of Trump, Ryan, Mitch, the Kochs, the Mercers, the Smiths, the Greens, and on and on.... I don't recall there being any "work requirement" for any of them!
They got the bucks, free and clear, didn't they?
But the poor?
They get a 20% INCREASE on their taxes - AND they have to work for any aid they receive....?
Now, you see, this is why we are the laughing stock of the world.
Now, Paul Ryan, "Mr. Cut Social Security", is supposedly leaving us at the end of his term. Supposedly, he won't be back.
Can we get that in writing?
Can we get him to work to pay for that pension he's going to get? That medical care?
He voted for a DECREASE in his taxes - can we somehow force him to pay an INCREASE of 20%?
Why not?
I demand that every Congressperson who voted for a tax INCREASE on the poorest of the poor now make up for that by being forced to INCREASE their tax bill by 20%.
And, I demand that THEY WORK for every cent they receive from this nation.
You know? This is just plain slimey.
40
Poor whites in red states will be exempt from work requirements.
Poor minorities in blue states will not.
Just a hunch.
43
A useful study would emphasize the personal, family and societal benefits to those who work in exchange for public services. It is a tragedy how such benefits perpetuate poverty and nurture a permanent underclass.
An important motivation for Mexican immigration to the US, for example, is that there is always work for them. Mexicans, like black immigrants from the West Indies and Africa, have strong work ethic and useful skills to offer employers precisely because they don’t grow up on the dole.
4
Ah. Doubtless this explains the opioid crisis among rural whites.
11
Arguing the specifics is a waste of time. The political intent is the same as it has been for decades – to make the case (without any actual documented evidence) that anyone who gets any form of public assistance is freeloading and living high-on-the-hog at the expense of those hard working tax-paying Americans.
Nutrition and medical assistance is paltry compared with the cost of the benefits that the USA showers upon the top income and corporate segment of the nation. But, of course, they are: “the job creators” and must be coddled so that they can create more jobs for those ungrateful freeloaders. Yeah-Right!
Why isn’t the US Government the employer of last resort? We did it before and it actually worked, despite the protestations of the conservatives of the day. Also, what is the cost to the local, county, state and federal governments to have poorly nourished, medically challenged people eventually showing up in the ER of the hospitals suffering from conditions that could be solved with proper nutrition and preventative care?
Of course, the conservatives will argue, as they have for many decades that poverty and illness are a choice and therefore your fault, not my responsibility. After all you chose the wrong parents and all that follows.
30
It's difficult to see this proposal as anything but an attempt at deliberate discrimination.
14
I do not understand this insistence on work — only for poor people. At slave wages, no less. How about we as a society insist on living wage jobs?
35
Health care should never be denied. Access to health care should be a human right, and the right of all Americans. We should emulate Canada and Great Britain, where a resident is issued a national health card upon birth, and is never denied health care. Ever.
In Great Britain, a British citizen is never sent a bill for medical expenses from birth to death. It is a right of all Britons.
This cruel plan to require people to work is simply an attempt to deny health care to the poor, and especially, to Blacks and Hispanics.
It is un-American.
18
Try providing 'living wage' jobs, child care, and necessary training, and the number of poor will plummet. Provide business with tax breaks for profits and not jobs makes no sense. Giving a tax break for providing a living wage job in America for Americans is a start.
9
The unemployment rate varies significant by race and gender. Not taking into consideration the impact of racial discrimination and bias during the hiring process will only further cement the disenfranchisement and income inequality that plagued the United States.
4
Actually, the group suffering the most discrimination in employment is the over 55 demographic. But liberals don't admit that this kind of discrimination exists.
6
Work requirements are abhorrent in Medicaid because they're a thinly veiled measure to kick people in need off the rolls. That said, most states pursuing these strategies use the phrase "community engagement." Having a paying job is just one qualifying activity. Other qualifying activities may include volunteering, participating in job training, caring for disabled family members or young children, and so on. Those kinds of "work" can be done in areas with high unemployment. There's no need to exempt high-unemployment areas.
3
Reliable public transportation could go a long way toward helping with the unemployment situation in rural counties. Childcare needs takes a good portion of the most vulnerable rural resident’s out of the jobs market. With enough training many could become nurse practioners, solving the lack of local medical services. Those programs will cost us, but not as much as the current bureaucracy headed welfare system.
I have lived half my life in sparsely populated places. I served on the volunteer boards that direct mental health, housing, fire and many other services including library and cemetery boards. Ask rural folk what they need, weed out the impossible requests and make a plan. The people there will always be conservative in their outlook. Bettering the lives of the needy will take the edge off the Trump’s appeal to those who live lives in pride and desperation.
3
One of the other issues that is not taken account in looking at this problem is the lack of affordable housing in places where there are abundant jobs. How many people who make 8 or 9 dollars an hour can afford an apartment? Especially if it requires them to pay for heat and hot water separately? Would a person want to move to a city that has no vacancies to get a job so they could get the job and live in a car? One of the biggest issues is that we tend to look at these problems separately rather than as parts of a whole.
22
Exactly. A friend of mine works with the homeless, some of whom work 2 or 3 part-time jobs and can't afford shelter. This is in flyover country, where housing is relatively inexpensive.
11
Just another example of the Calvinist, Social Darwinist, oligarchic mentality of those who have trying to separate those who don't into deserving and undeserving categories--and gaming the regulations by which that would be decided to advantage those whose allegiance and votes they might need.
24
Nothing about this actually helps people get jobs. I think we what we will see people move to the counties where they would be eligible. There are many that may be eligible anyway even if not by geography, but they lack the knowledge to navigate the bureaucracy and appeal wrongful decisions about eligibility.
And I am sure some people will just die if they can't get to the counties where they may be eligible.
I am reminded of: "If they would rather die," said Scrooge, "they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population."
Who knew 150+ years later that this would be the basis for policy in this day and age.
29
It is easier to determine who should NOT have to work. The disabled should not. Single parents who cannot afford child care, should not. People in areas where there are no jobs that pay a living wage for 40 hours of work, should not. Then, if someone is not on the checklist, they SHOULD have to work. BUT THESE THINGS SHOULD ALWAYS BE AMENDABLE.
10
Progressive lawmakers in Michigan should immediately have a press conference and agree to these Medicaid work requirements in Flint on one condition: that the state pass a bill to rebuild the city's water system as a public works project and offer a prevailing (living) wage job to everyone who is subject to these Medicaid, welfare or Food Stamp work rules. Not workfare -but actual quality jobs. While the legislature is busy passing judgment, maybe they could take a minute out to clean up the poisoned water -- that lest we forget -- was the result of another government scheme to save money at the expense of poor people.
38
The issue in the area where I live (which I personally see) is that there are many able-bodied people who choose not to work. If someone tries to work, needs assistance, we should provide a safety net but I know too many 20-40 year olds who would rather sit at home and live off the taxpayer dole because it is easier. I have zero interest in funding that. Those people should be required to work.
11
When I read comments like that - I often wonder how it is that you know these people are at home doing nothing because they want to be there? There are already places in the U.S. where a welfare payment (however small) requires a non-disabled person to look for work, attend classes where they teach resume writing, interview skills, etc. I am a firm believer that we need to help people look for work if they have not been in the work force and they need help. But everywhere I look I see this comment - "they" don't want to work.
36
The poor are not a monolith. They are as varied as any group. And sadly, yes, among them are able bodied people choosing not to work. They view certain types of jobs as beneath them. They prefer to coast off the generosity of loved ones or off government programs or some combination. I have a an uncle, a few cousins, a few in-laws and a niece who fit this description. For a period of time, I had a spouse who would not work if he could get away with it.
Anita, tell us about the "20-40 year olds who would rather sit at home and live off the taxpayer dole because it is easier." I'm curious about how you're aquainted with them.
32
It's not only receipt of Medicaid but Food Stamp regulations that are being proposed to have work requirements at the federal level. Yes, it will be up to each State to set the parameters for Medicaid & SNAP, but Food Stamps are administered at the federal level.
This enforced kind of cruelty and heartlessness in meeting the needs of the most vulnerable parts of our population is unconscionable. It brings to mind Charles Dickens' line: "Are there no workhouses?"
For all the hand wringing about educational achievement gaps and lack of appropriately trained workers, how in the world can people be expected to learn when their highest priorities are health & hunger? There are enough people who are "food insecure" who rely on food pantries in the U.S. already!
On another note, there is the question of what kinds of part-time work will be available and if companies would receive government subsidies to employ them. In addition, which "training programs" would be established to help people meet these requirements and how would they be paid for? For the single mothers in this situation, what will the costs entail for providing child care? And as another commentor noted, how much would the cost of monitoring these regulations be?
Ultimately, it is likely that these costs would be higher than simply continuing current programs without the burden of such requirements.
These GOP legislative efforts propose to punish people for a lack of employment or barriers to it. Bah humbug!
31
While it is reasonable for a government to ask for certain things in return for receiving government money, it is also reasonable to strike a balance. In this case, what is expected of the recipient is probably working a minimum wage non-governmental job so that all the benefits accrue to the private business owner. Republicans act as it they are using a monetary incentive to promote work. Odd that the primary beneficiaries are the businesses themselves. The Michigan Chamber of Commerce supports this legislation. Most social agencies do not.
57
The "Masters of the Universe" treated the financial industry like a big casino and blew up the economy, causing millions to lose jobs, through no fault of their own. The Masters got bailouts, and the unemployed got food stamps, yet it is the latter who are viewed as "undeserving" of the aid. To get the tax break on repatriating overseas income, companies should be required to create x number of decent paying jobs and training programs in underserved areas.
67
I suspect that as states implement work requirements, states will realize that monitoring compliance is more expensive than the projected savings.
73
Since when do conservatives care about fiscal discipline. It’s about controlling morality, not that they have the high ground in that regard either.
42
Good analysis. Most people fail to understand it is the states, not the federal government who grants exemptions to the 1996 law and administers and enforces medicaid rules. As to Michigan and other red states work rules, they tailor it to make sure the rural predominantly white and reliable republican voters are exempt.
44
Divide and conquer, and pit them against one another. That’s always been the strategy of the rich and powerful to exploit the poor and powerless. The relaunched Poor People’s Campaign addresses that very issue.
9
You really don't know for a fact that your last sentence is true.
1
They did in our state (not michigan).