If Congress enacted work requirements in 2026, more than 5 million Americans risk losing Medicaid compensation, according to a new report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Newsweek We contacted the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) by email for comment.
Why is it important?
Over 80 million people in the US rely on Medicaid for American health insurance, but many of these recipients can be launched from the program if Congress adopts national labor requirements.
Many states have expanded coverage in recent years, and new work requirements could lead to millions of people going without health insurance.
What do you know
Most people who lose Medicaid coverage are removed from the program due to confusion over new reporting requirements and reports are not actually unemployed.
Medicaid beneficiaries, nine in ten jobs, seeking jobs, such as attending school or having a disability, and meeting other exemption criteria.
Adopting Medicaid work requirements is one of the solutions proposed for Republicans when working to reduce government spending. President Donald Trump has set up the Office of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by Elon Musk to cut federal spending.
The new House-approved budget also calls for $880 billion to cut spending on the Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees Medicaid. Work requirements are one way to reduce the funds needed for a program.
But Trump has promised that Medicaid and Medicare, serving older Americans, will remain untouched.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
What people are saying
In a statement, Katherine Hempstead, senior policy advisor to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, said: “Work requirements are a dull tool that creates costly management deficits and separates eligible people from justly qualifying health insurance.”
Chris Fong, Medicare specialist and CEO of Smile Insurance Group, said Newsweek: “The requirement for Medicaid jobs, which is used in several states, such as Texas, is a bit of a double sword, and on the other hand, encourages people taking Medicaid to work to get out of their financial situation where they qualify for Medicaid and other social services.
said Kevin Thompson, finance expert and founder and CEO of 9i Capital Group. Newsweek: “In Medicaid, there are clear cost savings in the program because people are going to drop out. Looking back at the previous Trump administration, people who lost coverage aren't necessarily ineligible.
Alex Bine, a financial literacy instructor at the University of Tennessee, Martin, Newsweek: “The work requirements for the federal benefits program are not new and what is proposed to Medicaid may sound more than acceptable to many Americans. However, it is important to note that the majority of Medicaid individuals are already working. Work requirements aren't always bad and can cause many additional documents for the recipient.
What happens next?
Fong said that by enacting federal work requirements for Medicaid, it is likely that the number of registrations will be reduced, which means that it will reduce the amount of money spent through the Medicaid system. However, this requirement can make Medicaid really registering and becoming too difficult for those who really need it to remain in their stadium.
“We've already seen challenges in continuing registration of qualified individuals,” he added, adding that more than 25 million people have been fired after coronavirus protections expired last year.
“Many of these individuals were still eligible for Medicaid, but were released due to procedural procedural, known as a document issue,” Fong said.
If millions lose compensation, they will likely face medical debt or live on untreated conditions.
“It's all because of management requirements that are intentionally designed to drive people out of the system,” Thompson said.
