For an alternate viewpoint, see “Counterpoint: Work Requirements Increase Bureaucracy More Than Accountability.”

Medicaid is the government program that is supposed to help the poor afford health care. Its cost to taxpayers has skyrocketed in the last few years, consuming more than 12 percent of federal tax revenue collected by 2025.

Projected Medicaid spending from 2025-2034 (before the One Big Beautiful Bill) was expected to total $8.2 trillion, $2.7 trillion more than if Medicaid had grown proportionally to the population and inflation.

Before the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), Medicaid was a state-by-state program and often was available only to a subset of people below the poverty line, especially mothers and children, but generally not working-age, work-capable adults. The

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