Legal
Judge Blocks CMS Medical Frailty Rule for Medicaid Work Rules
A federal judge in Massachusetts permanently blocked the Trump administration's narrowed definition of "medically frail," which states use to exempt vulnerable enrollees from Medicaid work requirements. Judge Richard D. Stearns ruled that federal regulators exceeded their authority and that the restrictive definition would cause irreparable harm by disenrolling otherwise eligible people who rely on Medicaid for continuity of care. The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by more than two dozen states, which argued they lacked adequate time and resources to overhaul their eligibility systems to comply. The decision likely delays the nationwide rollout of Medicaid work requirements beyond their planned start date.
Why it mattersState Medicaid agencies gain a reprieve from a looming compliance deadline that would have forced rapid, costly overhauls to eligibility systems and risked wrongful disenrollment of medically frail beneficiaries.