Twenty-five states have sued the federal government in response to the interim final rule published by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to implement the enhanced work and community engagement requirements for Medicaid eligibility established in H.R. 1, last year’s federal budget reconciliation law.
H.R. 1 calls for tougher standards for Medicaid eligibility, including a mandate that most Medicaid participants either work or are engaged in some form of approved community engagement, such as attending school or participating in volunteer work.
But the 25 states – all with Democratic governors and attorneys general – claim that CMS’s implementation of the 2025 rule should not require people with serious health conditions to prove that those health conditions prevent them from working; that it will disproportionately affect older people with serious medical conditions but who are not yet eligible for Medicare; and that it inappropriately limits the ability of the medically frail to self-attest to their inability to work because of their medical condition.
The states also maintain that they spent a great deal of time and money preparing for these guidelines based on CMS’s preliminary guidance but that these latest guidelines differ significantly from CMS’s original plans.
Learn more about the effort by 25 states to fight the newest Medicaid work and community engagement requirements from the Becker’s Hospital Review article “25 states sue Trump admin over Medicaid work requirements – 8 things to know.”