Article URL: https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-medicaid-work-requirements-2677293170 Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49124306 Points: 10 # Comments: 3

Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox. Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox. Administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Dr. Mehmet Oz holds up a graph as he speaks ahead of US Vice President JD Vance at the 128th Air Refueling Wing Hangar on July 8, 2026, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Under a new policy the administration is defending in court, low-income people with cancer, HIV, Parkinson's, and other life-threatening illnesses must prove they're too sick to work or risk losing their health insurance. A federal judge on Thursday denied a request by more than two dozen Democratic states to halt a Trump administration policy announced last month that would require Medicaid recipients with terminal diseases to prove they are too sick to work in order to be exempt from new work requirements that go into effect this coming January. While introducing over $1 trillion in tax cuts for the wealthiest 1% of Americans, last year's massive GOP tax and budget bill also imposed new 80-hour-per-month work requirements that states must implement for Medicaid expansion recipients, who receive government-subsidized insurance coverage at or below 138% of the poverty line. The law specified that those who are “medically frail or otherwise have special medical needs” are excluded from the work requirement, and specifically listed people with a “serious or complex medical condition.” But it remained unclear what exact conditions met these criteria. Earlier this month, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) introduced a new rule stating that even if a person receives a terminal diagnosis for a disease like cancer, HIV/AIDS, or Parkinson's, that is still not enough for them to be exempt from the work requirements.