The next time you call an Uber or order food delivery with an app, there’s a good chance that the gig worker you meet is getting government benefits. Companies such as DoorDash, Lyft and Uber last year had the most workers receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits among all major employers, according to a recent Government Accountability Office report.
That finding may surprise many, who see platform-based work as a side hustle to earn extra cash. In fact, these jobs are becoming more essential as a primary source of income, even as they fail to cover basic expenses for gig workers.
Major gig-work platforms, including Uber and Lyft, often describe their jobs as an opportunity for workers to earn income on their own terms and hours.
In our survey, 9 in 10 workers said they valued the flexibility, and more than two-thirds reported positive experiences overall. But gig workers also named pressing concerns, especially transparency, pay and benefits.
The issue, then, isn’t whether workers want flexibility, but whether flexibility allows them to get by in today’s economy. With nearly half of all Americans saying they struggle to make ends meet, gig work is likely to increase as a source of financial survival. At the same time, these platforms aren’t substituting for traditional employment. Few gig workers – only 6% – reduced hours or left another job to pursue other gig work.
When gig work becomes a necessary source of income, the lack of benefits – from health insurance to disability insurance to workers’ compensation – reflects a shift in who is turning to the safety net. If major platforms won’t pay a living wage or provide adequate benefits on the grounds that it’s the price of “flexibility,” government programs often fill the gap. In other words, taxpayers are helping foot the bill to compensate gig workers.
The GAO report also showed that gig platforms are collectively now the third-biggest U.S. employer with workers on Medicaid, the public health insurance program for low-income and disabled Americans. By contrast, in 2020 they didn’t make the top five. What’s more, recent changes to Medicaid are likely to exacerbate conditions for gig workers.
President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax and immigration bill passed in 2025 included provisions for the many states that had expanded Medicaid over the past 15 years. Under the new rules, Medicaid recipients face new and tougher work requirements that demand 80 hours of work or school per month to maintain coverage. Gig work counts toward the requirement, but gig workers who work for multiple platforms may have trouble proving eligibility.
For example, app interfaces have different formats for reporting hours, and gig workers don’t receive a standard pay stub with total hours worked. They also lack a traditional employer contact who would allow for easy verification.
As is the case for Medicaid recipients more generally, the complexity and paperwork of the new work requirement may deny them coverage, regardless of whether they work 80 hours per month. These extra hurdles are likely to push more Medicaid recipients off the rolls as medical bills surge and their overall finances become even more strapped. This loss of coverage may also lead to increased hospitalizations that can result when uninsured people forgo preventive care.
In some states, lawmakers are starting to address the growing trend of gig platforms using government benefits to outsource benefit costs. Portable benefits offer one promising response. Under this model, platform companies or users of gig apps contribute to worker-owned benefit accounts that follow workers across platforms. In our survey, 61% of gig workers supported this idea, as did more than half of other kinds of workers.
Two states already provide some important lessons from existing models. In New York, the Black Car Fund, initially established for taxi and limo drivers, has covered gig drivers since 2014. It’s a nonprofit, state-authorized benefits fund that’s managed by a board consisting of industry representatives, including drivers.
Enrollment in that program is automatic for all gig workers and taxi drivers, with benefits paid for through a passenger surcharge collected via fares. In 2023, the state secured a $328 million settlement after Uber and Lyft withheld pay and benefits from workers. That settlement included mandatory paid sick leave, minimum pay and other benefits. This model has effectively shifted some of the burdens of lower-wage gig work from taxpayers to users.
California opted to work with tech companies when it crafted Proposition 22, which sought to provide delivery and ride-share drivers limited benefits while preserving their independent contractor status. Passed in 2020, it left implementation to the platform companies and offered a narrower set of benefits that aren’t fully portable across platforms. The California model also has more barriers toward getting benefits, and because the system isn’t truly portable, gig workers who work for different platforms have more trouble qualifying.
While these states have taken different approaches, I believe policymakers should remember that they don’t need to treat flexibility and worker protections as mutually incompatible. In the absence of universal federal benefits for gig workers, local and state officials can find ways to ensure that social costs aren’t shifted to the public through tax dollars and to workers through greater financial insecurity.
Jacob Lederman is associate professor of Sociology at the University of Michigan Flint.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Gig workers changing and struggling | Opinion
