OPINION:
I know what it means to struggle. I dropped out of high school at 18 when I became homeless. For months, I bounced from couch to couch and spent countless sleepless nights on park benches, just trying to survive, barely able to imagine a better future.
At 23, I was bedridden with a debilitating injury, disabled and broke. Even then, I didn’t qualify for Medicaid because my disability check put me over the income threshold. Any extra money I had was saved to make sure my three children could go to the doctor when they were sick or see a dentist to prevent cavities.
When I looked into vocational training as a way to rebuild my life, the state of Ohio threatened to cut off my disability benefits simply because I had the audacity to try to overcome my circumstances. Still, I made a decision: I refused to let the government lock me into a position of dependency.
At 30, I enrolled in college with the hope of climbing out of poverty and chasing a dream of becoming a lawyer, but Ohio didn’t just hand me an education or free health care. The state told me that if I wanted to continue my education beyond an associate degree while receiving my disability benefits, I had to work 20 hours per week.
So I did.
For three years, I worked 80 hours a month while attending school full time and raising a family. It wasn’t easy. There were sleepless nights, and days I went without seeing my family. Still, I believed then, just as I do now, that personal responsibility and hard work are the keys to dignity and independence.
That experience shaped my view of public assistance, and it’s why I proudly support recent reforms signed into law by President Trump that implement basic work requirements for able-bodied adults receiving Medicaid.
Let’s be clear: The One Big Beautiful Bill Act doesn’t take health care away from those who truly need it. It exempts seniors, pregnant women, people with disabilities, veterans, children and parents raising children younger than 14. For able-bodied adults with no dependents, it says: If you’re receiving free, taxpayer-funded health care, you should contribute in some form, whether through work, school, job training or community service.
Some on the left call this heartless. I call it common sense.
Working-class Americans go to their jobs every day and pay for their health care through premiums, deductibles and copays. Meanwhile, their tax dollars fund full coverage for people who choose not to lift a finger. That’s not justice. That’s a broken system.
We cannot build a strong nation when the burden of responsibility falls on the few while the benefits flow to the many. America is a land of opportunity, but it must also be a land of accountability. When government benefits replace ambition and personal effort, we don’t help people. We trap them.
My journey — from disabled and broke to lawyer, college professor, state representative and, now, a congressional candidate — wasn’t easy, but I didn’t ask for pity. I asked for a chance, and I was willing to work for it.
Because in America, the path to dignity still starts with personal responsibility.
• Josh Williams is a state representative for Ohio’s 44th House District, majority whip in the Ohio House of Representatives and a congressional candidate for Ohio’s 9th District, challenging Democrat Marcy Kaptur.
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