Graphic: Pennsylvania Health Access Network
We’re nearing the end of the Pennsylvania Legislature’s two-year session, which means that we are watching a last-minute effort to rush a series of bad bills into law (and waiting, and calling for, any of the dozens of bills that would actually improve lives of Pennsylvanians to advance).
Please take a moment right now to contact your state Senator and urge him or her to OPPOSE House Bill 2138.
Oppose House Bill 2138
HB 2138 would impose harmful work requirements on people who rely on Medicaid.
Proponents of this provision like to talk about “the dignity of work,” which is interesting given Pennsylvania has the lowest minimum wage in the northeast, has refused to protect more Pennsylvanians–or even the Legislature’s own employees–from rampant sexual harassment, refused to advance legislation that would ensure pregnant workers could have access to a bottle of water while working, and refused to ensure more new Pennsylvania working mothers can have a sanitary place to pump breastmilk.
House Bill 2138 reflects racist and sexist stereotypes, but not the facts: Most people on Medicaid who are able to work already work. Sixty percent of adults under 65 on Medicaid are already working, and 78 percent have at least one worker in the family. Nearly 80 percent of those not working are in school or cannot work due to illness, disability, or caregiving responsibilities. Who disproportionately fulfills the role of caregiver in working families? Women.
These facts haven’t stopped the Pennsylvania lawmakers who are heeding Trump’s call to implement these requirements, which experts say simply function to create bureaucracy and red tape in order to push people off the program. Pennsylvania Health Access Network calls these work requirements “Medicaid cuts in disguise.”
We see that effect playing out in other states that already implemented similar provisions. In Arkansas, two months into the new rules, 8,462 people have been kicked off Medicaid. Meanwhile, less than 1% of enrollees have increased working hours.
Find your state Senator and urge them to support Pennsylvanians by OPPOSING HB 2138.
The Women’s Law Project is a public interest law center in Pennsylvania devoted to advancing the rights of women and girls.
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