Work mandates can work in Iowa

There are more than 50,000 job openings in the state of Iowa today.

Yet only about two in three able-bodied Iowans are working in a job today, with more than 53,000 total unemployed and tens of thousands more gone from the labor force because they haven’t looked in so long. Iowa’s problem is a shortage of workers, not a shortage of work.

Gov. Kim Reynolds has been working to find ways address this problem, strengthen Iowa’s economy, and help families pay the bills. Gov. Reynolds should be praised for embracing work requirements for taxpayer benefits.

The people of Iowa don’t need to be convinced of the importance of work. But bad things happen sometimes, which is why state government has programs available to help people find a new job and assistance to make ends meet when they’re needed.

In her Condition of the State address, Reynolds said: “getting back to work can be a lifeline to stability and self-sufficiency,” and proposed ways for the state to be a better partner to businesses with reforms in permitting requirements, energy availability, and in the unemployment insurance program.

Reynolds’ solution: Iowa should apply for a federal waiver for work requirements for able-bodied adults on Medicaid, the state-federal health insurance partnership for low-income adults, children, pregnant women, and people with disabilities.

Reynolds is only proposing a work requirement for able-bodied adults on Medicaid, the people who have the ability to work and potentially find employer-sponsored coverage or a job that pays well enough for private coverage.

Nationally, as many as 40 million able-bodied adults are enrolled in Medicaid, out of more than 100 million total enrollees. During the first Trump administration, 13 states requested and were granted this kind of waiver to implement work requirements in Medicaid, with an additional nine states requesting them when President Biden took revoked the waivers.

And work requirements in general aren’t some new idea in Iowa.

Iowa’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, the Family Investment Program, requires able-bodied recipients to participate in a “ family investment agreement” that includes work-related activities, job training, and work searches.

The federal food stamps program has two work requirements: one for able-bodied adults, and one for able-bodied adults without young children.

Gov. Reynolds also recently doubled the work-search requirements in the state’s unemployment insurance program, helping Iowans find a job in an average of just nine weeks, compared to the national average of about 23 weeks.

There are about 700,000 Iowans on Medicaid today, up nearly 75% compared to a decade ago. With costs rising and a fixed number of Medicaid providers, it’s a win-win to preserve the program for the truly needy (those with disability, the elderly, and children of low-income families).

For the long-term strength of the Medicaid program, for the 50,000 help-wanted signs in the windows of Iowa businesses, now is the time to pass work requirements in Medicaid.

Clay Rhodes is the State Affairs Director for the Foundation for Government Accountability