A federal judge on Thursday denied a request by more than two dozen Democratic states to halt a Trump administration policy announced last month that would require Medicaid recipients with terminal diseases to prove they are too sick to work in order to be exempt from new work requirements that go into effect this coming January.
While introducing over $1 trillion in tax cuts for the wealthiest 1% of Americans, last year’s massive GOP tax and budget bill also imposed new 80-hour-per-month work requirements that states must implement for Medicaid expansion recipients, who receive government-subsidized insurance coverage at or below 138% of the poverty line.
The law specified that those who are “medically frail or otherwise have special medical needs” are excluded from the work requirement, and specifically listed people with a “serious or complex medical condition.” But it remained unclear what exact conditions met these criteria.
Earlier this month, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) introduced a new rule stating that even if a person receives a terminal diagnosis for a disease like cancer, HIV/AIDS, or Parkinson’s, that is still not enough for them to be exempt from the work requirements.
Beginning on January 1, 2028, it says they must also demonstrate to states that their condition “significantly impairs” their ability to meet the work requirement.
Of course. They would much rather see poor people with expensive needs die off. Your life has no value to these fascist ghouls. Not unless they can extract something of value from you.
The whole idea of a work requirement for medicaid is insane. You can’t mooch off healthcare to support yourself, it isn’t a replacement for income. If anything, this will only cause more people to become unable to work because they lose access to the care that helps keep them in the workforce.
It’s completely backwards. They want you to be outraged because some poor person might get government funded healthcare without having a job. The real outrage is that employers can pay workers a low enough wage that they need government assistance to make up the difference.