Medicaid work requirements create more hurdles for poor

In Pittsburgh, we proudly and accurately proclaim that our steelworker parents and grandparents built the world. We affirm our blue-collar heritage and lunch-pail mentality.

In this city of neighborhoods and favorite neighbor, Mister Rogers, we actively care for one another and help each other.

As our Legislature debates attaching work and job search activities to the eligibility requirements for Medicaid, let’s look at the facts behind such legislation. First, this is not about work. It is an attempt to decrease the number of people receiving Medicaid. Second, nearly 70 percent of people receiving Medicaid benefits do work. Unfortunately, many of those jobs are not even close to paying a living wage and people find themselves holding multiple jobs to make ends meet.

Fueling this attack on this health care program is the misperception and misrepresentation of the “working poor.” These individuals are those who care for our aging parents and people with disabilities, clean our hotel rooms, wait on tables, punch the cash registers, stock the shelves and keep us looking pretty.

This legislation will increase government red tape and costly levels of bureaucracy, while placing more hurdles for health care before those who are already distressed from meeting basic needs such as food, shelter and clothing.

The gap between rich and poor grows more each day, and we cling to what we have while denying the basic human right of health care to millions receiving Medicaid. Is this who we’ve become? LINDA WARMAN

Duquesne