Yes, they clearly do. And it was mostly Red States that embraced what he did. They clearly show that new work requirement waivers undermined Trump's pledge not to cut Medicaid. While the Trump's administration continued to ask the Supreme Court to overturn the Affordable Care Act, which expanded Medicaid in the states that chose to participate:
- The Trump Admin pushed new guidance and rules upon States, thereby forcing many to have to ask for federal assistance, most of which never came. It effectively
cut people off from Medicaid as they scrambled to pay (or not pay) medical bills on their own.
- The Trump Admin gave States unprecedented authority to require people in poverty to pay premiums for their health coverage; and approved a Wisconsin proposal to let it
take coverage away from people with incomes below the poverty line if they could not pay monthly premiums. I mean, they are below the poverty line for a reason, yeah? No health coverage for you!
- In the meantime, the Trump Admin
capped federal funding and shifted financial risk to the States, with federal funding cuts most likely to occur when states can least absorb them — "such as during recessions, public health emergencies, and other times when states face both high demand for coverage and strain on other parts of their budgets." That would pressure states to use new and existing authorities
to cut coverage.
- And with all of this, the Trump Admin encouraged States to
make it harder for some participants to even enroll or remain enrolled.
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