Rushed Medicaid work requirements create a lobbyist scramble

WASHINGTON — Patient groups are jockeying for exemptions from Medicaid work requirements, but the unusually fast implementation timeline for states is causing headaches.

Federal officials have until June 1 to tell states how to implement a provision of President Trump’s tax cut bill that requires certain Medicaid beneficiaries to show that they’re working, in school, or volunteering in order to keep their coverage. Once that regulation is out, states will have to put their systems in place by Jan. 1.

Advocates for people with certain diseases have been meeting with federal officials to urge that those patients be automatically exempt from the work requirements. For example, Patients with sickle cell disease recently met with White House budget officials to request an exemption. Advocacy groups for people with HIV are making a similar push.