Wyden, Warnock Lead Senate Democrats in Call to Stop Red Tape Requirements in Medicaid

Wyden, Warnock Lead Senate Democrats in Call to Stop Red Tape Requirements in Medicaid

Full Senate Democratic Caucus Calls for Withdrawal of CMS Rule Imposing Strict Requirements on Americans Trying to Get and Keep Medicaid Coverage

Washington, D.C. - Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., today led all 47 members of Senate Democratic caucus in a call for the Trump administration to withdraw a rule to implement work reporting requirements for Medicaid that will take effect at the beginning of 2027.

"We urge CMS to withdraw this rule to ensure that Medicaid can continue its mission of providing health coverage to low-income Americans. Implementing this rule will worsen Americans' overall quality of health, waste millions of dollars on administrative red tape, and cause preventable health emergencies for all Americans," the senators wrote. "States are not prepared to implement the agency's onerous, subjective requirements. It is families who will suffer, especially the sickest Americans, like those with mental health and substance use disorders, cancer, and diabetes, who most urgently need the health care Medicaid provides."

In the letter, sent to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Mehmet Oz, the senators make clear that attempts to implement these requirements will result in high costs and harm to eligible people. In Georgia's first year using work reporting requirements, the state spent five times as much on administrative costs as on health care benefits for enrollees.

The letter also emphasized that the Trump administration's definition of medical frailty far exceeds what is outlined in the law itself, and creates additional onerous barriers for both patients and states that will result in sick Americans falling through the cracks.

Red tape requirements are an attempt to suffocate the Medicaid program and deny health care to the Americans who count on it. Senate Democrats continue to support the full repeal of Republicans' disastrous Medicaid cuts, and stand united in calling on the Trump administration to withdraw this harmful rule.

The text of the letter is here.

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