Rep. Troy Carter, D-La., and Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., spoke with Fox News Digital about Medicaid work requirements. (Nicholas Ballasy - Fox News Digital)
Fox News Digital asked lawmakers on Capitol Hill if taxpayers should have to pay for Medicaid bills for able-bodied workers who are under 65 and unemployed.
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Sen. Angus King, an independent from Maine, said in both Arkansas and Georgia, where work requirements have already been imposed, it ended up costing taxpayers more money to administer the work requirements.
"We're talking about a very small population, and in the two cases where they tried it, it ended up, number one, disqualifying people who met all the requirements but gave up on the paperwork. These aren't people that are used to filling out a lot of paperwork every month. And it also cost the state a lot to administer," King said.
The New England Journal of Medicine found that Arkansas' Medicaid work requirement from 2018 to 2019 "found no evidence of increased employment … and a significant loss of Medicaid coverage among low-income adults."
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson speaks to the media after the House narrowly passed a bill forwarding President Donald Trump's agenda at the U.S. Capitol on May 22, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
"We're not saying, 'Hey, we're not throwing you out.' All right, but you gotta go get a job. You either get a job, or actually you can even volunteer, all right? And that will satisfy the requirements for work," Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., explained.
But Democrats who spoke to Fox News Digital continued to push back against the work requirements included in the "big, beautiful bill."
"I think people [who] are able to work, trust me, they'd rather work than to get the piddling dollars that they get from Medicaid. It's insulting to suggest that a person would rather sit at home rather than work and get this meager amount of money. All of this has just been totally expanded to fit a narrative that allows them to cut into those people who really deserve Medicaid," Rep. Troy Carter, D-La., said.
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And Rep. Lateefah Simon, D-Calif., said, "We need to be able to have an infrastructure in this country that supports the elderly and the sick and the widows and the child. This bill, it violates all those basic principles."
Fox News' Peter Pinedo contributed to this report.
Deirdre Heavey is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/get-job-medicaid-work-requirements-included-trumps-megabill-sparks-partisan-debate-capitol-hill