October 30, 2026 10:42 AM
Judge blocks Trump administration’s Medicaid rule forcing sick recipients to prove frailty
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.”
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 daily activities, or have serious or complex medical conditions. But the CMS rule went further, requiring people in those categories to show that their conditions also “significantly impair” their ability to comply with the law’s work requirements.
The plaintiffs argued that the stricter rule would prevent eligible Americans from accessing the care they need — and oversteps the text of the law itself as well.
“The states have met their burden of showing irreparable harm for which monetary damages would provide inadequate compensation — they face the burden of costly and intensive alterations to their eligibility verification systems,” Stearns said in his 16-page ruling.
Notably, while the ruling will make it easier for some Medicaid recipients with qualifying medical conditions to obtain an exemption from the new work requirements, Stearns’ decision does not strike down the work requirements as unlawful.
It is likely to mean some people will be able to obtain or keep coverage, said Morgan Henderson, an economist who studies Medicaid at The Hilltop Institute at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. “Those individuals who would have lost coverage because they’re sick but they’re not quite sick enough,” he said, “they might have their coverage preserved now.”
North Carolina Health and Human Services Secretary Dev Sangvai said it would also help patients avoid some stressful situations.
Read more: Judge blocks Trump administration’s Medicaid rule forcing sick recipients to prove frailty – The Associated Press – MPR NewsContinue/Read Original Aricle: Judge blocks Trump administration’s Medicaid rule forcing sick recipients to prove frailty | MPR News
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