Work requirements and red tape ahead for millions on Medicaid

Now that the Republicans’ big tax-and-spending bill has become law, new bureaucratic hurdles have emerged for millions of Americans who rely on Medicaid for health coverage. A provision in the new law dictates that, in most states, for the first time, low-income adults must start meeting work requirements to keep their coverage.

Some states have already tried doing this, but Georgia is the only state that has an active system using work requirements to establish Medicaid eligibility — and recipients must report to the system once a month.

When she first started using the system, Tanisha Corporal, a social worker in Atlanta, wasn’t opposed to work requirements — in principle.

But when she left her job at a faith-based nonprofit to start her own project, the Be Well Black Girl Initiative