SNAP snafus and Medicare messes

On June 1, the federal government issued a regulation requiring Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) applicants to work 80 hours monthly/20 hours weekly. The work can be paid, unpaid, volunteer work, or work done in exchange for goods or services.

Now the government is looking to do the same thing to Medicaid benefits. The law says beginning next year, adults without disabilities or young children must fulfill the same work requirements to be eligible for Medicaid. (Unlike SNAP, the law has several exceptions for categories of people, e.g., those Congress called “medically frail.”) During the last week of June, the District and 25 states sued in a Massachusetts federal district court to block certain provisions of the law.

If this law isn’t stopped, millions of Americans will lose coverage if they don’t work. For people like me with severe health problems, those work requirements will be really harmful and maybe fatal. I can’t take that chance. Actually, I shouldn’t have to.

People need guaranteed health insurance to live productive lives. The only way to make that happen is Medicare for all!