Senator Raphael Warnock (D-GA), alongside Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) and 14 other colleagues representing a broad swath of the Democratic coalition, is calling on Senate leadership to delay new Medicaid work reporting requirements enacted in Congressional Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
What is the main concern in their letter? Senators Warnock and Ray Luján warn that the work reporting requirements could cause millions of Americans to lose health care coverage.
Nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts attributed to Congressional Republicans and signed into law by President Trump will take effect in January 2027 unless Congress moves to blunt their impact.
For reference, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that more than 5 million Americans could lose their coverage from the work reporting requirements alone.
What Sens. Raphael Warnock and Ben Ray Luján had to say in their letter:
- “The midterm results reveal a clear message: the American people are hurting, and we must do what we can to alleviate and prevent further harm. Absent the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) using its statutory authority and enforcement discretion to protect people from losing their health care due to states clearly not being ready to implement bureaucratic red tape, Congress must step in.
- “While we remain committed to a full repeal of all Medicaid cuts, we urge you to include, in the next legislative vehicle, policies that can mitigate the imminent coverage loss from the work reporting requirements set to take effect on January 1, 2027.
- “No state that has attempted work reporting requirements in Medicaid has ever meaningfully increased workforce participation. Instead, every state that has done so has either seen or predicted significant coverage loss for people who continue to be eligible for Medicaid but lose coverage because they can’t navigate all the red tape.”
Further Context: President Trump and Congressional Republicans made cuts to health care coverage to accommodate other parts of their legislative agenda found in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
A July report found that two million fewer children were enrolled in Medicaid in April, compared to January 2025 when President Trump took office.
