Whenever changes to “economic production and social reproduction” hamper effectiveness of existing ways to satisfying society’s needs, welfare states are expected to respond (Zutavern & Kohli, 2010). However, the welfare state in the United States has been characterized as reluctant and exceptional due to the extent that it leaves basic needs unmet. Recently, even welfare states in other leading global nations have shown signs of faltering; for instance, Shahidi and colleagues (2019) found that social welfare is associated with adverse health outcomes and that social assistance recipients exhibit worse health outcomes relative to similar nonrecipients in many countries. Like other systems, welfare states and even their flagship programs must evolve with macro socioeconomic changes. In this column, I introduce an intervention strategy gaining traction through a growing number of pilot projects across the United States, universal basic income (UBI). Then, I discuss early research that is linking UBI to beneficial health outcomes. Finally, I address the question, “How might social work think about UBI?”