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Health experts and advocates for low-income people say federal rules implementing President Donald Trump’s new Medicaid work requirements upend months of work by state governments to prepare the computer systems that determine who’s eligible for benefits.
Starting next year, about 18.5 million adults will be subject to new Medicaid work rules in 42 states and Washington, D.C. Applicants must show they’ve been working for at least a month before receiving benefits. Some Republican-controlled states want to triple the required work period.
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The One Big Beautiful Bill Act will add red tape and restrictions for those seeking Medicaid and SNAP benefits. And the costs to update computer systems that determine eligibility for those programs will be steep.
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.
Even as the federal government resumed funding the nation’s largest food assistance program, people risk losing access to the aid because of new rules.
Under Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act, states must shoulder more of the administrative and cost burdens of the food aid program SNAP, which helps feed 42 million Americans.
People on Medicaid deemed “medically frail” won’t 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 federal government is making sweeping changes to SNAP, the program that helped feed about 42 million people in the U.S. last year. Here’s a breakdown of the changes to come and potential impacts.
As contractors position themselves to cash in on a gush of new business managing Medicaid work requirements, a cadre of senators has launched an inquiry into the companies paid billions to build eligibility systems.
The Trump administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” platform has boosted the agenda of a conservative think tank that’s been working for more than a decade to reshape the nation’s public assistance programs.
Carmen Aiken of Chicago thought their medical appointment would be covered because the Affordable Care Act requires insurers to pay for a long list of preventive services. But after the appointment, Aiken received a bill for more than $1,400.
Emotionally overwhelmed, an Indiana woman dialed a mental health hotline. She didn’t find the help she was looking for and hung up. Ultimately, she was handcuffed and hospitalized overnight. Now, amid federal cuts, she and others fear the U.S. response to similar crises will revert to more responses like that.
Union Health has made a new bid to buy its only rival hospital in Terre Haute, Indiana. The system passed one hurdle after lawmakers watered down a bill that threatened the proposed deal. That means the merger will now face a likely showdown with Indiana’s new governor.
Gloria Sachdev, a pharmacist by training, has spent years taking on the health care establishment in Indiana, working to pull down high hospital prices and make information public to patients. Now, in a newly created position in the governor’s Cabinet, she’s no longer fighting from the outside.
After rival hospitals in Terre Haute scuttled plans to merge, a state senator has introduced a bill to forbid similar mergers by repealing a state law he helped write.
Two Indiana hospital rivals withdrew their application to merge after facing pushback from the Federal Trade Commission and the public.
Florida discovered a glitch in its Deloitte-run Medicaid eligibility system. The problem, alleged in court testimony, led to new mothers wrongly losing their insurance coverage.
Hundreds of people and the Federal Trade Commission weighed in on a proposed hospital merger in Terre Haute, Indiana, with most arguing that the creation of a monopoly would increase costs and worsen patient care.
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