Medicaid Work Rule Fight Threatens Push to Cover Social Needs

Medicaid’s ability to address housing, nutrition, transportation, and other social needs that impact people’s health will be in play in a Supreme Court case examining the program’s flexibility in another area: work requirements.

The court is scheduled to hear oral argument March 29 in a lawsuit reviewing the Trump-era Department of Health and Human Service’s approval of work requirements in the Medicaid programs in Arkansas and New Hampshire.

But a court ruling against work requirements could end up cutting back on the HHS’s authority under the Biden administration to let states experiment with Medicaid—undermining hopes of using it in a ...