Appeals court deals blow to Trump's Medicaid work rules

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration's effort to remake Medicaid by requiring low-income people to work for health care suffered a serious setback Friday when a federal appeals court ruled it goes beyond what's allowed by law.

The unanimous decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit means President Donald Trump will have little to show for one of his major health care initiatives ahead of the November elections. The case involves Arkansas, but the ruling is expected to affect other states pursuing work requirements.

The court found that it is “indisputably correct that the principal objective of Medicaid is providing health care coverage” and that work requirements for “able-bodied” people lack specific legal authorization. Moreover, the court ruled that administration officials failed to thoroughly examine the risk that some Medicaid recipients would lose coverage in approving Arkansas' experiment with work requirements. The state later reported more than 18,000 people dropped from the rolls, but it wasn't clear how many obtained other coverage.

“Failure to consider whether the project will result in coverage loss is arbitrary and capricious,” Judge David B. Sentelle wrote for the court. He was nominated to the federal bench by Republican President Ronald Reagan.

“The text of the statute includes one primary purpose, which is providing health care coverage without any restriction geared to healthy outcomes, financial independence or transition to commercial coverage," wrote Sentelle, dismissing several justifications cited by the administration for work requirements.

Nearly 20 states are in various stages of trying to implement requirements, after the Trump administration invited states in 2017 to submit such proposals. Kentucky, an early...