New Bill Would Require Some To Work To Get Medicaid Benefits

DENVER (CBS4) - Advocates are protesting a bill that would require some Coloradoans to work in order to receive Medicaid benefits.

Protestors rallied against the bill outside the Capitol Thursday.

They say the bill would create more red tape between patients and medical caregivers.

A sponsor of the bill says it simply requires a small percentage of workers - who get Medicaid and can work - to work.

"So what I'm looking at is not so much how to cut people out of Medicaid but the longevity of people who need it such as those with medical issues, such as the elderly," State Senator Larry Crowder said. "What this is targeted to is just those able-bodied people."

"This bill implied that the people who are on Medicaid are lazy and don't want to work. It's simply not true," Shelby Scott, an advocate against the bill, said. "I've always worked. I've even taken abuse at the hands of my employers so that I could make enough money to live in Denver and have health coverage."

Lawmakers say Medicaid is 37% of the budget.

They say the bill would put a five-year limitation on able-bodied people from receiving Medicaid.