Skip to main content
Statement

Moms Advocate Slams Michigan Governor for Signing Bill Establishing Work Requirement for Medicaid Families, Warns It Will Crush Low-Income Families in the State

June 22, 2018
Health Care

Lisa Lederer, 202-371-1996

Statement from Elyssa Koidin Schmier, Ann Arbor-based senior campaign director at MomsRising, an online and on-the-ground organization of more than one million mothers and their families, on Michigan Governor Rick Snyder’s decision to sign a bill imposing strict work requirements on Medicaid recipients:

“Governor Snyder made a costly mistake today when he signed into law a harmful and unnecessary bill that will strip health coverage away from hundreds of thousands of low-income individuals and families in Michigan. The new law imposes strict work requirements on Medicaid recipients that will almost certainly lead to massive coverage losses for low-income families while increasing costs for the state.  

“This law will add unnecessary and burdensome red tape for families trying to keep their health coverage, and it could even eliminate life-saving health care for Michiganders -- in particular the more than 675,000 individuals enrolled in the Healthy Michigan Plan, the state’s Medicaid expansion program, which Governor Snyder himself has championed. The governor and his allies in the Michigan state legislature are now turning their backs on the thousands of people he expanded health care to in the first place in order to score political points with President Trump and the Republican party. This move will put parents, children, caregivers, and low-income individuals at risk and will disproportionately impact women. 

“Michigan’s lawmakers should not be pushing through bills that harm the most vulnerable families in the state. They should be focusing on policies that will boost families and the state’s economy—policies that fund job creation and training programs; raise wages; and ensure access to high-quality, affordable childcare and paid family and medical leave. They should not dismantle Medicaid and make coverage harder for families to get or maintain. Instead, they should strengthen health care programs so that Michiganders can care for themselves and their loved ones without sacrificing their own health and well-being, and be able to address health care needs when other means of coverage are unavailable or out of reach. 

“This law will crush Michigan families and increase costs for the state—it’s quite simply a lose-lose proposition. Michigan moms, and moms across America, are deeply disappointed in Governor Snyder and the Michigan legislature today. ”

# # # #

MomsRising.org is an on-the-ground and online grassroots organization of more than a million people who are working to increase family economic security, decrease discrimination against women and moms, and to build a nation where businesses and families can thrive. Established in 2006, MomsRising and its members are organizing and speaking out to improve public policy and to change the national dialogue on issues that are critically important to America’s families, including criminal justice reform, immigration policy reform, and gun safety. MomsRising is working for paid family and medical leave, affordable, high quality childcare and early learning, and for an end to the wage and hiring discrimination which penalizes women — particularly moms and women of color — and so many others. MomsRising advocates for access to healthy food for all kids, health care for all, earned sick days, and breastfeeding rights so that all children can have a healthy start. MomsRising maintains a Spanish language website: MamásConPoder.org. Sign up online at www.MomsRising.org — and follow us on our blog, and on Twitter and Facebook.