PETITION TO PAUSE NEBRASKA’S EARLY ROLLOUT OF MEDICAID WORK REQUIREMENTS
To Governor Jim Pillen, the Department of Health & Human Services, and members of the Health & Human Services Committee:
Nebraska recently began enforcing new federal Medicaid work requirements a full eight months before nearly every other state in the country. This rushed rollout of a federal policy expected to kick tens of thousands of Nebraskans off healthcare is reckless and unnecessary. Our leadership made the choice to start these cuts early, but Nebraskans are the ones who will pay the price. It’s time to press pause.
Nebraskans shouldn’t be guinea pigs for a federal mandate, especially when our healthcare is on the line. Here are our concerns:
- DHHS isn’t prepared. The department never staffed up to handle the extra verification work, and it shows. They’re sending unclear and confusing notices, the phone lines have short hours and long hold times, and even those who eventually manage to get someone on the line report getting conflicting information from overworked staff.
- Workers & patients will suffer. Arkansas and Georgia have both tried work requirements like these. People who clearly met all the criteria were forced to fill out mountains of paperwork, and many lost health coverage anyway due to red tape and administrative errors. Neither state saw any measurable increase in employment. The same thing is on track to happen here in Nebraska, made worse by the rushed rollout.
- Rural Nebraska pays first. Nebraska’s Medicaid enrollment skews rural. When people lose coverage, our health problems don’t disappear. And when we can’t afford our medical bills, those costs don’t disappear. Rural Nebraskans will be trapped in debt, and uncompensated care costs will further strain our state’s struggling rural hospitals and clinics.
We DEMAND our leaders:
- Slow down. DHHS is overstretched and making mistakes. Pause the implementation IMMEDIATELY until at least January 1, 2027, the date the federal government set. Stop cutting Nebraskans off Medicaid early; give people at least 90 days to fix a mistake or file an appeal. These are our lives on the line, and there’s no prize for finishing first.
- Stop hiding the numbers. Publish monthly public data on the number of new Medicaid applications denied, Medicaid disenrollments, appeals filings, and types of exemptions granted, broken down by county.
- Show us the bill. We deserve to know how much the state is spending to kick Nebraskans off healthcare. Publish monthly accounting breakdowns of the costs of implementation: system changes, tech upgrades, contractor fees, public outreach, and all related expenses.
- Let Nebraskans weigh in. We didn’t ask to be test subjects for this early rollout. Stop making decisions behind closed doors. Task each DHHS Public Assistance Office across the state with holding at least two public forums before January 1, 2027 in addition to the open public comment period required by federal regulation (42 CFR 441.304(f)). These forums should be used to explain the changes to Medicaid, respond to questions in real time, and give Nebraskans a chance to be heard.
Nebraskans are already working. We’re also paying more for our groceries, housing, gas, and healthcare than we were just a year ago. The healthcare system is hard enough to navigate as it is. Adding more paperwork between us and a doctor doesn’t put anyone to work, it just makes us more likely to lose coverage.
Slow down. Listen to the people. Nebraskans deserve better.
This petition is organized by Debt Collective, Lincoln Democratic Socialists of America, and Omaha Democratic Socialists of America.