Sponsors (6)
The bill aims to preserve benefits for compliant beneficiaries and give states stronger tools to enforce work rules, but it risks coverage losses, added verification hurdles for vulnerable people, and increased costs and uncertainty for states and recipients.
Low-income people who meet monthly work/activity requirements keep their Medicaid coverage and federal matching funds continue for their care, preserving access for compliant beneficiaries.
Low-income seniors (age 60+) are explicitly exempted from SNAP work requirements so eligible older adults can retain SNAP benefits without work participation.
States gain greater flexibility to enforce work participation and to target resources to beneficiaries meeting activity standards, allowing states to focus program resources on engaged participants.
Low-income individuals who fail the work requirement for three months can lose Medicaid coverage when federal matching funds are denied, causing immediate gaps in access to care.
Parents, caretakers of young children, pregnant people, and people with medical impairments face higher risk of losing coverage because exemptions may not cover all caregiving or pregnancy-related barriers and medical exemptions require burdensome physician verification that can cause delays.
Denying federal matching funds for noncompliant individuals shifts costs to states or forces states to reduce services, creating fiscal pressure and potential program cutbacks.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Allows states to impose an 80-hour-per-month Medicaid work requirement, denies federal matching funds after repeated noncompliance, and revises SNAP work-exemption language (explicitly exempts people 60+).
Official title: To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 relating to work requirements; to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to establish work requirements under the Medicaid program.
Introduced February 21, 2025 by Eric Burlison · Last progress February 21, 2025
Makes it easier for states to require work as a condition of receiving Medicaid and tightens SNAP work-exemption rules. The bill adds a new federal rule that allows states to impose a monthly 80-hour work or activity requirement for certain Medicaid enrollees and authorizes denial of federal matching payments and possible state disenrollment for individuals who fail the requirement; it also revises which people are exempt from SNAP work requirements and removes a subsection of the 2023 Fiscal Responsibility Act.