Trump Officials Fight Court Bid To Exempt Terminally Ill Patients From Medicaid Work Requirements

A judge has allowed Medicaid work-requirement rules to proceed, raising concerns that patients could lose coverage unless they prove they cannot work. (Credit: Stephen Andrews via Unsplash)

To keep the health insurance that is treating their cancer, some of the sickest people in America will soon have to prove they are too ill to hold down a job, and the Trump administration has just gone to court to keep it that way.

A federal judge on Thursday refused a request by more than two dozen Democratic-led states to block the administration's rules on who can be excused from new Medicaid work requirements, rules the states say are so narrow that people with terminal illnesses will have to actively document their own incapacity or risk losing coverage.