Gov. Kay Ivey is planning to ask the federal government for permission to make Alabama’s bare-bones Medicaid program even more stringent, harming thousands of low-income parents who work at home taking care of dependent children. The state’s Medicaid work requirement proposal creates a no-win situation for parents living in deep poverty: They lose coverage if they don’t get a job AND if they .

Parents and caretakers of children can’t qualify for Alabama Medicaid if they earn more than 18 percent of the federal poverty level – or about $312 a month for a family of three. Working 10 hours a week at minimum wage puts a parent over this income limit, yet the plan would make them work 35 hours a week and lose their coverage. Medicaid is one of the only protections many of these Alabamians have.

Besides harming the targeted families, the plan would hurt the state budget, which affects everyone. Keeping track of who’s working, who’s not working, who’s looking for work and who’s exempt is a massive undertaking that Medicaid is not equipped to handle. The major new administrative costs will reduce funding available for vital human services like mental health and child protection.

A required public comment period for the new plan produced around 800 comments, the vast majority of them opposed to the work requirement. But Medicaid intends to send the proposal to Washington in a couple of weeks. Governor Ivey is the only one who can put the brakes on this cruel and costly plan, and a public outcry can help make that happen.
Please call the governor’s office today at 334-242-7100 and tell her: Don’t kick thousands of parents off Medicaid. Withdraw the work requirement proposal!