Trump's 'Beautiful' New Law Means States Have Big Decisions This Year on Medicaid

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Source: MedPage Today

Original: https://www.medpagetoday.com/publichealthpolicy/medicaid/119334...

Published: Thu, 08 Jan 2026 11:46:51 -0500

Last year, President Donald Trump signed a sweeping bill that fundamentally changes the Medicaid program and shifts more responsibility to individual states starting in 2026.[6] States will have to adopt new eligibility conditions, including mandatory work requirements for some adult Medicaid recipients.[6] The law introduces more frequent reviews of Medicaid eligibility, so that some groups of insured persons will have to be verified more often than once a year.[1][6] The so-called retroactive coverage, i.e. retroactive reimbursement of medical expenses prior to applying for Medicaid.[1][4][6] New co-payments (fees) for some health services are to be introduced for some adult Medicaid beneficiaries.[1][6] At the same time, the law limits the use of some tax and financial mechanisms by which states have financed their share of Medicaid.[1][5]