By — Fatima Hussein, Associated Press Fatima Hussein, Associated Press Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/judge-blocks-trump-administrations-medicaid-work-requirement-rule-forcing-proof-of-medical-frailty Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Judge blocks Trump administration's Medicaid work requirement rule forcing proof of medical frailty Health Oct 29, 2026 3:53 PM EDT WASHINGTON (AP) — Chronically ill people on Medicaid won't be bound by new work requirement rules that the latest Trump administration guidance requires in order to qualify for "medically frail" exemptions, a federal judge ruled Thursday. U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns in Boston gave a partial victory to a coalition of 25 states and the District of Columbia, which sued the Trump administration in June over the new Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services guidance linked to the 2025 law known as the "One Big Beautiful Bill." READ MORE: As states face stricter Medicaid work requirements, Nebraska is an early test The law says the definition of medically frail must include people who are blind or disabled, have substance use disorders or disabling mental disorders, have certain disabilities that significantly impair…
Judge blocks Trump administration's Medicaid work requirement rule forcing proof of medical frailty
In short
U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns determined that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services overstepped a 2025 statute by requiring medically frail recipients to explicitly prove their conditions prevented them from working. While the decision prevents additional administrative hurdles, it does not invalidate the underlying baseline rule requiring 80 monthly hours of qualifying activities. Furthermore, the court sustained two other federal measures, including an annual expiration on acceptable frailty diagnoses.
Key points
- Chronically ill Medicaid enrollees will not have to satisfy the extra federal burden of p…: Chronically ill Medicaid enrollees will not have to satisfy the extra federal burden of proving how their frailty impairs work compliance.
- The core statutory mandate enforcing monthly work or educational benchmarks remains legal…: The core statutory mandate enforcing monthly work or educational benchmarks remains legally valid and unaffected by this decision.
- States must still enforce other validated federal rules, including the rejection of medic…: States must still enforce other validated federal rules, including the rejection of medical frailty diagnoses that are more than a year old.