Congress is on the verge of passing legislation that would require millions of Medicaid beneficiaries across the nation to prove they are working to receive benefits, posing a massive challenge for states that would be required to act quickly with limited resources.
The requirements, a prominent feature of Republicans’ budget reconciliation bill that passed the House last month, would apply to millions of people who are eligible for Medicaid under the 2010 health care law’s expansion: mainly low-income adults who don’t earn enough money to buy their own insurance or get it through their jobs. The Senate Finance Committee included the same requirements in its version of the proposal released Monday evening.
State Medicaid directors, including those representing red states, have privately told drafters of the legislation that a Dec. 31, 2026, effective date in both versions would be too soon to implement work requirement programs that actually aim to help people rather than kick them off for noncompliance.
