This op-ed by Randy Hicks of the Georgia Center for Opportunity was published by City Journal on 07/01/2025.
House Republicans’ proposed Medicaid reforms have reignited a national conversation about work requirements. The GOP is right to argue that work is part of a good life, and that some program recipients should be required to hold a job.
But work requirements are only a first step. If the One Big Beautiful Bill becomes law, states will quickly discover that their administrative systems are ill-equipped to move recipients from welfare to work. To succeed, states should adopt a more integrated approach—one that provides access to both benefits and job training in a single location. The model for such an approach is Utah’s “One Door” strategy.