Judge strikes down Medicaid work rules in Arkansas, Kentucky

A federal judge today blocked new work requirements on Medicaid recipients for a second time, dealing another blow to the Trump administration's efforts to reshape the safety net health care program.

U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg ruled that the federal government failed to justify that adding employment conditions and other changes to Medicaid in Arkansas and Kentucky advanced Medicaid's basic purpose of providing health coverage. Imposing work rules has been a signature issue of Trump's health department and conservative governors.

“The Court cannot concur that the Medicaid Act leaves the [HHS] Secretary so unconstrained, nor that the states are so armed to refashion the program Congress designed in any way they choose,“ wrote Boasberg, an Obama appointee named to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in 2011.

More than 18,000 low-income adults in Arkansas were thrown off Medicaid late last year for failing to meet requirements that they work or participate in another job-related activity for at least 80 hours per month in order to keep their health care. Kentucky's work rules — which aren't yet in place — are projected to reduce that state’s Medicaid rolls by 95,000 residents. The Trump administration has approved work rules in a total of nine states, and more applications are pending.

Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine