Only the lowest paid Floridians qualify for Medicaid in the Sunshine State, the result of eligibility rules that are among the strictest in the nation.<\/p>\n
A single mom with two children can only enroll her kids if her yearly salary is less than $38,000, roughly half of Florida\u2019s average household income. Shewould be excluded from Medicaid herself, as is any parent who earns above $8,000 per year, or roughly one quarter of the federal poverty level.<\/p>\n
And adults with no children? They\u2019re ineligible no matter how little they earn unless they\u2019re disabled.<\/p>\n
The result is that the vast majority of the almost four million Floridians enrolled in the federal health benefit program are children, disabled individuals and adults who stay home to care for young children or the elderly.<\/p>\n
Despite that, Florida may be about to adopt a work requirement program that critics say could violate federal law. It will likely cost millions of dollars to implement and enforce, though they say it would apply only to a tiny fraction of Medicaid recipients.<\/p>\n
A bill that would require able-bodied adults on Medicaid to complete at least 80 hours of work or job training was passed by a Florida Senate health committee last month.<\/p>\n
Sponsored by FloridaSen.Don Gaetz, the law is intended to take advantage of a provision in the Trump administration\u2019s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which requires states to mandate work requirements for Medicaid recipients.<\/p>\n
It will help to establish a \u201cwork culture as opposed to a dependency culture,\u201d Gaetz said during the meeting on Feb. 2.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s got to be a distinction drawn between those who can\u2019t get up off the couch and those who won\u2019t get up off the couch,\u201d Gaetz said.<\/p>\n
Under the proposal, able-bodied adults who fail to meet the work requirement would be kicked off Medicaid. But critics say that makes no sense, since those who comply and take on extra work would then be at risk of losing their health coverage because they now earn too much.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuch a policy would mean that very low-income parents and young adults are damned if you do and damned if you don\u2019t,\u201d said Joan Alker, executive director and research professor at the Georgetown Center for Children and Families.<\/p>\n
The catch-22 scenario is because the work requirement provision of the Trump bill was designed for states that took advantage of additional federal funding via the Affordable Care Act. That money goes to states that expand Medicaid to adults who earn up to 138% of the federal poverty level \u2014 or $45,000 for a household of four.<\/p>\n
Florida is one of 10 states that have not done so.<\/p>\n
Under Gaetz\u2019s bill, work requirements would apply to able-bodied adults under 64 who are not caregivers or whose children are 14 and up.<\/p>\n
He said that would be around 147,000 adults, a figure his office said was provided by the Florida Department of Children and Families.<\/p>\n
An estimate by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration puts that number even lower, according to the bill analysis<\/a>: about 112,000 recipients \u2014 less than 3% of all those on Medicaid.<\/p>\n Georgia implemented a Medicaid work requirement program in 2023.<\/p>\n Although it has not fully expanded Medicaid, Georgiaallows adults who earn up to the federal poverty level to enroll provided they do at least 80 hours of work or job training per month.<\/p>\n The program, which had enrolled 8,000 people as of June, cost the state more than $100 million, according to a KFF Health News analysis<\/a> of state reports.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/ef6c829dac66ad42081be31ac3e48300.jpeg\"\/)
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