Trump's agriculture secretary doubles down on suggestion people should work on farms to avoid losing Medicaid

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Independent

Tuesday 05 August 2025 21:53 BST


Americans at risk of losing their Medicaid government health coverage because of new work requirements signed into law by the Trump administration should find employment on U.S. farms, according to Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins.

“We have way too many people that are taking government program that are able to work,” Rollins said in an interview on Fox Business on Tuesday. “This is not children. These are not disabled [people]. These are not senior citizens. These are able-bodied Americans who are taking government handouts.”

In July, the Trump administration created new work requirements for Medicaid, a state-federal program providing healthcare to over 77 million mostly low-income people, as part of its One Big, Beautiful Bill spending package.

Under the new requirements, passed alongside sweeping tax cuts disproportionately benefitting the rich, able-bodied people on Medicaid are required to show they have completed 80 hours of work or community service per month to maintain their coverage, with limited exceptions for parents and caretakers with young children, pregnant people, and other groups.

Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/brooke-rollins-medicaid-farms-b2802470.html

[riversedge]

1. "with limited exceptions for parents and caretakers with young children," In other words, it seems Repugs

do not want a parent to stay home to care for the small kids!!

Whow, did I read this right??

[BumRushDaShow]

2. They have plans for those kids...

...in the fields, the slaughterhouses, and factories.

[AZJonnie]

3. No, you read it the opposite, people with little kids are exempt from work req's

But it's still deplorable AF as federal policy. And further proof this country really has a lot of dickhead people voting in it

[Irish_Dem]

5. LIMITED exemptions. LIMITED is the key word here.

Means no one will be exempt.

[Igel]

12. It's worded poorly.

"with limited exceptions for parents and caretakers with young children"

= with limited exceptions, such as for parents and caretakers with young children.

Exceptions are limited in the number of types; there then is provided an example of one such exception and the class or category of people it will apply to.

Reporters do write clearly .

Oops. Left out a trivial bit of grammar. Fixed: "Reporters do write clearly ... infrequently."

[Irish_Dem]

13. Everything they write is a lie anyway.

Doesn't matter how it is worded.

[pecosbob]

16. It means the 'right' people will be exempted...not your or my family, but theirs.

I remember how selective service worked in practice.

[AZJonnie]

36. I took 'limited' to refer to the size of the class of people it applies to, as opposed the scale of the exemption

My thinking was you're exempt from the work requirement, or you're not. That seems binary, therefore 'limited' could not logically apply to that, ergo 'limited' means 'there's not that many people' who'd get it. If you know differently feel free to share

[Irish_Dem]

37. We are looking at psychopath language.

Not normal logic.

They mean they can do whatever the hell they want.

[AZJonnie]

38. I assumed the assertion was the authors language, and it was imprecise wrt what the law says

This is not to take issue with your overall point, which seems to be that these people are not to be trusted, and based on their other actions it's logical to suspect in practice, they'll just pick and choose "the right people" to exempt, regardless of how the law may be worded.

Implementation of this cruelty could also end up costing taxpayers more to monitor and track 10's of millions of people's eligibility status than it would to just cover everyone. In fact I remember some years ago when FL had the idea to drug test everyone for eligibility for some program, and then backed away from it cause it cost more than it saved. A large majority of these RW asshole's ideas for how to change this country are fucking stupid when you get down to it

[Irish_Dem]

40. Yes money is no object when it comes to destroying

The US and being cruel to Americans.

All of their plans will end up costing a huge fortune.

[Dem2theMax]

4. Well, I think just about everyone on DU called this one.

Calling Orrex. Has it come true yet?

[Walleye]

6. We need to make a requirement that secretaries of agriculture have to work on farms

[Irish_Dem]

14. I'd love to see Trump, Noem, Bondi, etc work on a farm for one day.

[multigraincracker]

7. Chop some wood, it'll do you good.

Prey and live on hay.
There will be pie in the sky when you die.

[BoRaGard]

8. Doubleplusungood (r)

[twodogsbarking]

9. I grew up on a farm. Hundreds of beef cattle, corn, oats, hay grown to feed them over winter.

There's no fucking way these people could do any of the work. I was young and fit and it wasn't easy then. It's not like a tv commercial. Once again, not a clue of reality. Did I mention you work outside all day when the temp is 90 or -10 f. No days off.

[uncle ray]

17. farm work is also some of the most dangerous work.

i grew up farming as a kid and teenager. OHSA isn't making visits to farms. farming ruined my back, hands and knees, i've been electrocuted with 240 volts several times due to shoddy wiring by the farmer, crushed between a tractor and immovable object, kicked by cows, smashed by bulls, roasted in the sun all day, suffered heat stroke throwing hay bales in hay lofts that were so hot the 90° barn below felt like a walk in cooler. then there's the neurological damage from various chemical exposures, breathing dust... the best part is reeking of shit all the time. at least i didn't have ICE after me. i couldn't imagine putting my body through that abuse again at 50+. the farmer i worked for had fun running a help wanted ad in the local paper to have desperate city folk apply in person, he'd put them to work for a day to see what they could do, they rarely made it past lunch time.

[twodogsbarking]

19. Yes you have been there. At least the manure in the barn generated some heat. Steaming ya know.

[travelingthrulife]

27. I was a family farm slave while growing up. I remember clearly throwing those bales

of hay around at the top of the roasting hot barn. My brother said I did it without complaining. I assured him it was because I just was too young to know enough curse words.
All of the work is hard and mostly dangerous to you and those around you.

How can farmers cope with unhealthy laborers? Or laborers that have caregiving responsibilities at home? They will require days off.

[NickB79]

32. A friend of mine lost an arm to a PTO shaft a few years ago

While working on his farm.

A neighbor died back in the 90's because the anhydrous ammonia fertilizer tank popped it's seal and he inhaled a full breath of gas.

As a kid, every night in winter I'd come in from the barns coughing up black phlem from all the dust in the hog barns, because you close all the doors tight when it's -25F outside.

And the pesticides and herbicides, my God. I still remember my dad elbows deep in a sprayer tank of atrazine mix. I'm amazed he's as healthy as he is.

Oh, and going through the old baby book my mom kept, I found a note she wrote when I was 3: "Nick got kicked by a cow today." Like, WTF Mom!

[uncle ray]

39. PTo shafts were the worst!

i've had my close calls with those too. many instances where the lever to engage the PTO on the tractor was on the opposite side of the shaft from where you had to work the equipment such as a silage unloader or blower.

the number of injuries from unqualified people being hurt doing farm work would make it more costly than not working.

[Alice B.]

18. I helped bale hay over a couple of summers when I was young.

By the last one, I was crying every morning on my way to work.

It would absolutely do some people in the current administration a world of good.

I have no idea how I would do that today, let alone over consecutive days. These days, a few hours of lesser farm chores wipes me out the next day.

[twodogsbarking]

20. Itchy, very itchy. Hay splinters hurt.

[Alice B.]

21. OMG yes. One of the guys said to just let the splinters work their way out on their own.

The brilliant idea to work in shorts and tank tops or sports bras was a brutal and very quickly learned lesson, lol.

[twodogsbarking]

22. Good times, eh.

[Alice B.]

23. Good life lessons, I'll say that

[twodogsbarking]

24. Some days we made 1,000 bales. All stacked in the barn too. Slept well.

[Alice B.]

25. I don't think we did that many but I certainly remember having to stack them just so in the barn!

Every time the day is at its hottest and driest, I know what somebody is doing somewhere.

[NickB79]

31. Sounds like we had very similar childhoods

Nothing like milking cows at 3am, grabbing an extra hour of sleep and getting on the bus for school, then coming home, doing more chores until past sundown, doing an hour of homework, and doing it all again the next day. Summer vacation? Picking rocks, baling and stacking hay, shoveling literal tons of manure every day, tending to a massive vegetable garden, splitting and stacking firewood. Oh yeah, and we were broke as hell so every time crop, dairy, beef or pork prices dropped, my dad would go into a deep depression and cry about how we were about to lose the farm.

As much as I appreciate all my dad did for me on that farm, I grabbed the first scholarship I could and RAN to college instead of taking over the land. It broke my heart when he sold it, but I watched it break him and knew it wasn't the life for me.

[twodogsbarking]

34. You did the right thing. As I said, not like TV. Spraying maggots on cow flesh right before lunch can spoil your appetit

[Javaman]

10. and for those who already work? (which is the majority of recipients?) SOL?

and for those who can not work due to massive physical limitations? fuck off as well?

fuck these bastards.

[MrsCheaplaugh]

11. Handouts for working people - bad

Handouts for Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and a few others - good.

[Irish_Dem]

15. The Trump Crime Syndicate stealing billions of tax dollars.

This is fine with the MAGAs.

MAGAs think feeding hungry children is bad.

[Historic NY]

26. Lazy ass Republicans want you to work

for their next salad.

[Srkdqltr]

28. H ow do they get to the farm? Where do they stay?

Does the farmer provide transportation? Do they need a car? Seriously.

[bucolic_frolic]

29. Chain gang duty, 2 weeks a month

Why doesn't she just come out and say it?

[Ol Janx Spirit]

30. "These are able-bodied Americans who are taking government handouts." This describes billionaires does it not?

But just as "mass-deportations" exposed the lie that there were millions of violent criminal immigrants roaming the streets of American cities looking for prey, this new policy will do the same with the lie that millions of able-bodied people are living large on Medicaid money.

What's worse: so much of the fraud in Medicare and Medicaid isn't perpetrated by the people receiving the care, but it is perpetrated by the physicians and wealthy healthcare systems like the one now-senator Rick Scott (R - DeSantistan) founded.

"Columbia/HCA agreed to pay $840 million in criminal fines, civil damages and penalties.
Among the revelations from the 2000 settlement:
• Columbia billed Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal programs for tests that were not necessary or had not been ordered by physicians;
• The company attached false diagnosis codes to patient records to increase reimbursement to the hospitals;
• The company illegally claimed non-reimbursable marketing and advertising costs as community education;
• Columbia billed the government for home health care visits for patients who did not qualify to receive them."
( https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2014/mar/03/florida-democratic-party/rick-scott-rick-scott-oversaw-largest-medicare-fra/ )

Crazy thought: maybe the DOJ should be going after those guys and sentencing them to work in the fields....

[SusieCreamcheese]

33. The logistics alone would be a nightmare!

Where are these "indentured servants" supposed to live while working on the farms? Will they have to commute from the city? Good thing they are working for medical care because they are definitely going to need it.

[republianmushroom]

35. If they don't, where are you going to get

those farm hands ?

Suggestion Mr. Secretary, how about "YOU" work harvesting veggies, in the fields, for a week and then make this statement again.

[Luciferous]

41. There are a lot of people on Medicaid

who already work, this is so stupid.

[Matthew28]

42. bastards literally want

to bring back serfdom just to get healthcare. WTF?

[thesquanderer]

44. If farms paid a decent wage, the workers wouldn't need to go on medicaid. (n/t)