GOP-Led States: Work Should Be Linked To Obamacare

Governors and conservative legislators in nearly a dozen Republican-dominated states are looking to link work requirements to a Medicaid expansion under Obamacare in a bid to make the federal healthcare law more politically palatable.

According to Politico, the Obama administration has ruled out the possibility of adding a work requirement, believing it will undermine the objective of ensuring universal health coverage to low-income Americans.

"This is supposed to be an incentive and encouragement for people to work versus an incentive for people to just receive the government benefit and not be part of a working culture of Arkansas," Gov. Asa Hutchinson told Politico.

The move is being taken up in Indiana, Florida, Utah and at least eight other states dominated by the GOP as a way of offsetting the cost of the expansion and reducing the risks of fraud and abuse. Lawmakers are considering a range of options from requiring employment to job hunting or job training.

"I wanted to be able to say, 'If you want the taxpayers to fund your healthcare, then you need to go out and be involved in a work program, no ifs, ands, or buts.' I've been accused by the Obama administration: 'Well, you're trying to turn this healthcare program into a work program.' And I've said, 'You're right,'" Utah Gov. Gary Herbert told Politico.

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