The Trump administration announced yesterday that it is giving states the green light to implement work requirements on Medicaid beneficiaries. More than 10 states have already proposed some form of Medicaid work requirements. Not only do these work requirements fail to significantly boost long-term employment, they hurt the very people who Medicaid is designed to serve.

The evidence shows that work requirements do not increase employment among those already struggling to find work and have little overall effect on employment in the long term. Most Medicaid recipients who can work already do, and work requirements will just kick out the people who need Medicaid most. Sixty percent of adults on Medicaid are working and nearly 80 percent are in working families. Many have jobs that are less likely to offer employer-sponsored insurance. Of those not working, more than half are family caregivers, in school, or already looking for work.

The administration’s new policy aligns with the work requirements in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, which have been shown to negatively impact people struggling with mental health and substance abuse. At a time when states are stepping up efforts to combat the opioid epidemic, this policy is a step in the wrong direction.

The evidence is clear: work requirements fail at their stated long-term goal of increasing employment, and are just another way to limit access to health care.