What about medicaid

Medicaid, the health insurance program for Americans with a low income that offers coverage for More than 70 million people” is confronted with the greatest overhaul in decades Under President Donald Trump’s ‘One, Big, Beautiful Bill’, a huge tax and expenditure package that is now being considered by the Senate that his financing would lower.

Both the house and senate versions of the bill, which is still undergoing changes, since the Upper Chamber votes on changes, would reduce the financing for the program with hundreds of billions of dollars, according to the non -party -bound Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Nearly 12 million adults were able to lose health insurance because of the proposed cuts in the revised bill of the Senate in the following decade, the CBO estimated in a Saturday report. It is expected that many of the cuts will be imposed by imposing new ones Administrative requirements About registered people, or the risk of losing their coverage.

The White House has rejected the findings of the CBO and insisted that the cutbacks on the program will only reduce fraud and waste. “President Trump promised to protect and save Medicaid, and that is exactly what the large, beautiful achieved by kicking illegal immigrants of the program, implementing the work requirements for common sense and to maintain fundamental subsidiability verification to fight Fraude Kush Desah DESAI.

The house approved the bill in May and legislators in an attempt to adopt the proposed legislation by a deadline of 4 July imposed by Trump. The proposed Medicaid cuts are controversial among the Republicans, some of whom are wary of their potential impact. Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, has sworn to vote against The bill unless his concern about the cuts are tackled.

Read more: Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ is confronted with the opposition of Musk and some Republicans while the Senate barely votes to promote it

This is what to know about Medicaid.

What is Medicaid?

Medicaid was established after the course of the social security changes of 1965 under President Lyndon B. Johnson, According to the National Archives. The law has both adopted Medicare, what generally Offers health insurance for Americans aged 65 and older, and Medicaid, that serves people with a low income.

Medicaid is jointly funded by national and federal governments and is good About a sixth of healthcare expenditure in the US It is a hugely popular program among Americans: more than 80% have a positive image of Medicaid, according to one questionnaire Earlier this month carried out by non -party -related research organization KFF.

The Affordable Care Act enable States to expand Medicaid-intelligence to include non-older adults whose income up to 138 percent of the federal poverty hazard $ 44,367 For a family of four this year. Forty States and Washington, DC, so far have adopted the expansion, of which 90% is financed by the federal government.

During the COVID-19 Pandemie, the Congress assigned extra medicaid funds so that recipients can maintain “continuous coverage”, whereby states had to keep most people in the program, regardless of the income in exchange for improved federal financing. Continuous registration was closed at the end of March 2023 and a “settled” process began.

Some states have alternative names For Medicaid, such as Denalicare in Alaska, Katcare in Kansas and Sooncare in Oklahoma.

How many people are registered in Medicaid?

In recent years, Medicaid registration has been around 20% of the total American population, the PEW Research Center report.

About 71.3 million people with a low income were in the US registered In the program in March 2025, of whom more than half were adults, according to a report from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The figure was remarkably higher in recent years: around 100 million people were registered in Medicaid at any time in 2023, according to a December 2024 report Through the Medicaid and Chip Payment and Access Commission. The figures were rejected after the end of the continuous registration, because states have resumed people from the program.

Read more: Medicaid extends have saved tens of thousands of lives, research finds

The part of the people who are registered in the program varies considerably between states. More than 30% of Residents According to KFF, in Louisiana and New Mexico are covered by Medicaid, compared to only 12% in Wyoming and North Dakota.

Who is eligible for Medicaid?

The Federal Government sets broad eligible requirements for Medicaid. It requires states to cover some groups when they fall under certain income levels, including pregnant women, families with children, disabled people and most children in foster care.

But since the program is administered by the State, Medicaid qualifications vary. For example, some immigrants can be eligible for coverage in states such as New Jersey or New York. One of the provisions in the senate version of Trump’s tax and expenditure account was intended to reduce federal financing to states that use Medicaid to offer health care to immigrants without papers. That part of the bill, however, is in the uncertain after the parliamentarian of the Senate has established that the measure did not meet the senate rules.

Are medicaid recipients needed to work?

Current regulations in most states do not require medicaid recipients. In Georgia, however, applicants must prove that they have completed at least 80 hours of work or volunteer services to receive coverage. Because of this verification system, a propublica report Discovered that Georgia only registered a fraction of medicaid-intelligent people: about 7,500 of the estimated 250,000 eligible residents.

Attempts to implement work requirements in Arkansas were brought down by a federal court in 2019. A federal judge blocked Similar requirements in Kentucky to come into effect the previous year, and governor Andy Beshear exhausted Attempts to impose them on in 2019 shortly after he took office.

Idaho, Kentucky and Indiana have adopted legislation to impose work requirements this year, according to Kff. Other states weigh the imposition of comparable measures. And potential work requirements are considered at a federal level in Trump’s ‘one, large, beautiful account’. The package would require medicaid recipients from 19 to 64 to check whether they work at least 80 hours a month, or train for a new job, study or volunteer work. People’s work status would be checked twice a year.