Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

As Congress pushes for Medicaid cuts and new work requirements for the program, experts have warned more Tennesseans could lose their health coverage through TennCare.
The U.S. House reconciliation bill would slash federal Medicaid spending by at least $700 billion to fund a tax-cut extension and other Trump administration priorities.
Jane Dimnwaobi, attorney and Equal Justice Works fellow at the Tennessee Justice Center, said tying Medicaid eligibility to work requirements is the biggest potential threat for Tennesseans. She added most would have to work or volunteer at least 80 hours a month to stay covered.
“We know there are about 1.4 million people on Medicaid, on TennCare here in Tennessee, and 300,000 of them are the kind of adults that would be affected by the work requirements provision in the bill,” Dimnwaobi explained.
According to KFF, in one recent year, nearly two-thirds of working-age adults on Medicaid were employed, and close to three in 10 were not working due to caregiving duties, health conditions, disabilities or school attendance—circumstances which have qualified as exemptions from Medicaid work requirements.
Dimnwaobi noted Tennessee attempted to add work requirements to Medicaid in 2018, but the waiver was not approved by federal officials. She added today, it is essentially “lying in wait” and could be approved if the big budget bill passes in the Senate. She pointed out the proposed work rule targets able-bodied adults without young children, and it ignores caregiving duties and barriers like job access or transportation.
“For Tennessee, there was a projection that about 68,000 people would lose coverage under the state work requirements proposal,” Dimnwaobi underscored. “We have a state that’s already wanting to implement work requirements at a very strict level, and now the federal budget reconciliation bill has opened the door to our state doing that.”
She noted similar work requirement policies in Georgia and Arkansas dropped eligible workers, putting them and their families at risk. If the bill passes, the policy would take effect in December 2026, just after the November midterm elections.