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Final regulations on Medicaid work requirements say enrollees must regularly obtain documentation â possibly from medical professionals â to prove that theyâre too sick to work. Doctors say the rules put them in a tough spot.
A work requirement is coming to Medicaid. Sam Whitehead tells WAMUâs âHealth Hubâ how to keep your coverage â and whoâs exempt from the new rule.
The Trump administration has laid out what millions of Americans on Medicaid must do to prove theyâre working or completing other activities. Health policy researchers and consumer advocates say there are some important takeaways.
Some states already donât have enough staff to quickly process Medicaid applications and answer enrolleesâ phone calls. Researchers say they may not be prepared to handle new Medicaid work rules, predicting people will lose coverage as a result.
Adults ages 50 through 64 faced some of the steepest increases in out-of-pocket costs for Obamacare plans after a set of federal subsidies expired at the end of December. Some say they are putting off care or considering dropping health insurance coverage until Medicare picks up the bill.
2026 has been a challenging year to buy health insurance. Contributing factors include changes to the Medicaid program and hikes to the cost of Obamacare plans. But doctors and researchers say there are ways people without insurance can find affordable care.
Republicans have said new rules requiring many Medicaid participants to work 80 hours a month will pinpoint unemployed young people who should have jobs. Policy researchers say the rules are more likely to disrupt coverage for middle-aged adults, harming their physical and financial health.
People on Medicaid deemed âmedically frailâ wonât need to meet new federal requirements that enrollees work 80 hours a month or perform another approved activity. But state officials are grappling with how to interpret who qualifies under the vague federal definition, which could affect millions.
The Trump administration says itâs developing a digital tool to help people prove theyâre meeting new Medicaid work requirements. Ńîšóĺú´ŤĂ˝Ňîl Health News talked to officials from the two states running pilot programs and found little evidence of new â or effective â technology.
In South Texasâ Rio Grande Valley, many people go without health insurance, and the health system struggles as a result. Similar communities dot the nation, and more could face such difficulties under President Donald Trumpâs tax-and-spending law.
The Trump administration has pushed a significant amount of health costs to states, whose budgets may already be strained by declining state tax revenues, a slowdown in pandemic spending, and economic uncertainty. State and local governments now face difficult decisions.
GOP lawmakers in 10 states have refused for a decade to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. But when President Donald Trump got another whack at Obamacare, these holdout states went unrewarded.
President Donald Trump signed legislation that requires many Medicaid recipients to prove theyâre working to qualify for health care coverage, allocating $200 million for states that expanded Medicaid to prepare systems to verify peopleâs eligibility. Georgiaâs program, which has been expensive and difficult to administer, has had limited enrollment.
Fewer Americans will likely have health insurance, compromising their physical and financial health, as the Trump administration and GOP-controlled Congress weigh major changes to the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid. âThe effects could be catastrophic,â one policy analyst predicts.
A new vaccine advisory panel appointed by the HHS secretary, a longtime anti-vaccine activist, reflected his unsupported claims about the safety of childhood inoculations.
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This fall, the U.S. Government Accountability Office expects to release a report on how much it costs to run Georgia Pathways to Coverage â the countryâs only active Medicaid work requirement program â as other states and Congress consider similar programs.
Republicans are pushing to implement requirements that Medicaid recipients work in order to obtain or retain coverage. Some states try to help enrollees find jobs. But states lack the data to show whether theyâre effective.
Ńîšóĺú´ŤĂ˝Ňîl Health News correspondent Sam Whitehead discusses Medicaid's history and role in the U.S. health system.
Republicans in Congress have suggested big cuts to Medicaid, the state-federal health insurance program for people with low incomes or disabilities. The complex, multifaceted program touches millions of Americans and has become deeply woven into state budgets and the U.S. health care system.
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