When “Get a Job” Becomes a Death Sentence

Lately, a chilling slogan has gained traction among some politicians and commentators: “The best healthcare plan is a job.” On the surface, it sounds reasonable. After all, hard work and self-reliance are good things, right? But let’s peel back the veneer. When this phrase is used to justify slashing Medicaid, what it really means is: “If you’re not employed, you don’t deserve to live.”

That is not Christian. That is not compassionate. And that is not the Gospel.

This isn’t just talk—it’s tied to real efforts to cut Medicaid or tie it to employment. During the Trump administration, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) approved work requirement waivers in several states, conditioning Medicaid access on holding a job or engaging in “community engagement” activities. Arkansas was the first to implement the rule in 2018. Within a year, over 18,000 people lost coverage—many simply because they didn’t know how or where to report their work hours (Dorn, Urban Institute, 2019).

Even though the Biden administration later rolled back those waivers, calls for reinstating them have returned. In 2023 and 2024, several Republican-led states pushed again to tie Medicaid to employment, and lawmakers in Congress introduced bills that would cut Medicaid eligibility or force low-income Americans to “work for their care” (Rudowitz et al., KFF, 2024). These efforts ignore the reality: most adult Medicaid recipients who can work already do, often in jobs without benefits (KFF, 2024).

Let’s be clear: Medicaid isn’t welfare for lazy people. It’s lifesaving access for children, the disabled, elderly, and millions of low-income working families. It covers 40% of all children in the U.S., half of all births, and more than 60% of nursing home care (CMS.gov, 2024). When lawmakers talk about "encouraging work" by restricting healthcare, they’re threatening cancer patients, parents of special-needs kids, stroke survivors, and working single moms.

Jesus never said, “Blessed are the employed, for they shall inherit healthcare.” He said, “I was sick and you cared for me” (Matthew 25:36, NLT). When you turn away the poor and uninsured, you turn away from Christ Himself.

Throughout Scripture, God commands His people to protect the vulnerable—not punish them for being weak. Read Isaiah, Amos, or James. God is crystal clear: “Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights” (Isaiah 10:1–2, NLT).

When Christians support healthcare cuts that hurt the poor while cheering slogans like “Get a job,” we trade our cross for cold economics. We are not called to survival-of-the-fittest. We are called to bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2), care for the least, and heal the broken (Isaiah 61:1).

Christ’s Kingdom is built not on cruelty, but compassion.

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Works Cited

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Medicaid & CHIP Enrollment Data. www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/national-medicaid-chip-program-information/medicaid-chip-enrollment-data. Accessed 8 July 2025.

Dorn, Stan. The Effects of Medicaid Work Requirements in Arkansas. Urban Institute, Mar. 2019. www.urban.org/research/publication/effects-medicaid-work-requirements-arkansas.

KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). Medicaid Work Requirements: What to Know. 10 May 2024. www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-brief/medicaid-work-requirements-what-to-know.

Rudowitz, Robin, et al. Medicaid Work Requirements and Impacts on Coverage. KFF, 2024. www.kff.org/report-section/medicaid-work-requirements-and-impacts-on-coverage-issue-brief.

The Holy Bible, New Living Translation. Tyndale House Publishers, 2015.