The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that work requirements for the Medicaid program in House Republicans’ bill would save the government $109 billion.
However, the CBO analysis found the bill would not result in any more people working.
“The agency concludes that the amendment would have a negligible effect on employment status or hours worked by people who would be subject to the work requirements,” the CBO said.
“Federal costs would decrease, the number of people without health insurance would increase, the employment status of and hours worked by Medicaid recipients would be unchanged, and state costs would increase,” the agency concluded.
Those savings would essentially come from people getting dropped from Medicaid, either because they can’t or don’t meet reporting requirements.
Under the policy, states would lose federal Medicaid funding for able-bodied adults ages 19 to 55 without dependents if those recipients fail to meet the requirement for three or more months during a calendar year.
The CBO said it would expect 600,000 people to lose Medicaid coverage under the bill. States would also have to spend $65 billion over 10 years for another 900,000 Medicaid enrollees who would lose federal funding for not complying with the work requirement.
Republicans who favor the requirements argue that too many Americans are dependent on Medicaid and other safety net programs and view work requirements as promoting self-sufficiency.
GOP lawmakers included the work requirements provision in their sweeping bill to pair an increase in the debt ceiling with proposed cuts to government spending.
The bill is seen as dead on arrival in the Senate, though Republicans hope to use its passage this week as leverage to negotiate with the White House and congressional Democrats.
Overall, the CBO found the House legislation would trim the national deficit by a projected $4.8 trillion between 2023 and 2033.
