Overview

• The Senate is now considering a GOP budget bill that would require able-bodied Medicaid recipients to work 80 hours a month or secure exemptions to maintain benefits.
• A nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office analysis projects 10.9 million Americans would lose Medicaid coverage through 2034 under the proposed requirements.
• Arkansas’s 2018 experiment stripped more than 18,000 residents of Medicaid in seven months without producing any measurable employment gains.
• Economic modeling warns states could forfeit $33 billion to $46 billion in federal Medicaid funding next year and face up to 449,000 job losses by 2026.
• A KFF poll finds over half of adults fear these changes would undermine family healthcare access, and Senator Josh Hawley has labeled the cuts morally wrong and politically risky.