Kentucky's Medicaid Work Requirements Approved Once Again By Trump Administration

Earlier this year, a federal judge blocked Kentucky's work requirements waiver ruling the government did not adequately consider how the plan would impact people who receive coverage. The judge's ruling restarted the application process, which was completed Tuesday. Work requirement proposals have drawn criticism as advocates worry poor families will lose their health care. In Arkansas, thousands have been dropped from the Medicaid rolls in the months since the rules were enacted.

The Associated Press: Feds Re-Approve New Rules For Kentucky Medicaid

The Trump administration has again approved new rules for some of Kentucky's Medicaid population, requiring them to either get a job, volunteer in the community or go to school to keep their government-funded health coverage. The Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services announced the approval on Tuesday, nearly five months after a federal judge blocked the state's first attempt. (Beam, 11/20)

The Washington Post: Trump Administration Again Permits Kentucky To Impose Work Requirement For Medicaid Recipients

Kentucky has been a lightning rod in the administration’s rewriting of the rules for the public health insurance system for poor Americans by inserting long-held conservative ideas — about individual responsibility and a limited government helping hand — for the first time in the history of a program run jointly by the federal government and states that began under the War on Poverty of the 1960s. (Goldstein, 11/20)

The Hill: Trump Pushes Forward With Medicaid Work Requirements In Kentucky

The move is a sign of the Trump administration’s determination to impose the conservative change on the health insurance program for the poor, despite criticism from Democrats who warn of people losing coverage. The judge’s ruling in June blocked the first attempt to approve the work requirements because it said the Trump administration failed to consider whether the plan would cause people to lose coverage and run counter to the objectives of Medicaid. (Sullivan, 11/20)

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