Judge strikes down Trump. Again...

'Contrary to law': Judge strikes down Trump admin's definition of 'medically frail' in Medicaid work requirements

The judge sided with a coalition of 25 Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia in a lawsuit challenging the requirement that states force chronically ill people to prove they can't work.

By Alice Miranda Ollstein and Robert King

A federal judge in Boston sided on Thursday with a coalition of 25 Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia in a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s requirement that states force chronically ill people on Medicaid to prove they are unable to work.

During oral arguments last week, the states said that unless the court blocked that piece of the rule before January and allowed them to exempt people with certain diagnosed illnesses, they would be “forced… to bear the costs and burdens of operationalizing this unlawful limitation.”

Judge Richard Stearns, an appointee of President Bill Clinton, said the guidance the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released in June went beyond what Congress passed in 2025 in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and is “thus contrary to law.”

“There is an inherent public interest in ensuring that the government follows the law,” he said, adding that “enforcement of an unlawful definition of ‘medically frail’ may lead to the disenrollment of otherwise eligible vulnerable individuals relying on Medicaid coverage for continuity of care.”