Why Don’t You Just Get A Job? Public Attitudes to Work Requirements

• In Event: Red and Blue: Partisian Divisions in US Health Policy

Abstract

Since taking office, the Trump Administration has taken a slew of actions to transform the American health care system and the social safety net. One of the major efforts in this vein has been the implementation of work requirements for Medicaid beneficiaries. Not surprisingly, the Trump Administration has found willing partners in Republican states around nation including, perhaps most prominently, Kentucky and Arkansas. Work requirements have been touted by proponents for encouraging a “culture of work,” prioritizing scarce government resources, providing a way out of poverty for beneficiaries, and undoing the disincentives inherent in public assistance programs. Opponents, on the other hand, have countered that taking away medical coverage runs contrary to the goal alleviating poverty and transitioning Medicaid beneficiaries into stable work environments.

How do Americans feel about this transformational change in the states? Using a large (n=2,000), nationally representative survey, we analyze how personal and political identity as well as psychological characteristics shape attitudes about deservingness of Medicaid beneficiaries. We then analyze how beliefs in deservingness influence individual attitudes toward Medicaid work requirements in general, as well as which populations should be exempted from them. Building on prior research on attribution theory, we find evidence that individual attitudes about Medicaid beneficiaries and work requirements are driven by attributions of blame. That is, the perceptions of Americans towards Medicaid beneficiaries and work requirements are related to whether or not they believe that Medicaid beneficiaries are to blame for their circumstances and whether they think they are deserving of health benefits. We conclude by discussing the implications of this finding for the implementation of work requirements and social policy more broadly.

Authors

• Simon F. Haeder, The Pennsylvania State University

• Timothy Herbert Callaghan, Texas A&M University

• Steven M. Sylvester, Utah Valley University