Nebraska's early Medicaid work rules leave a cancer patient told he lost coverage
Written by AI from kffhealthnews.org's report. Not checked by a person.
KFF Health News reports that Nebraska, the first state to enforce Medicaid work requirements, has had problems with its rollout, including a cancer patient who said he was told he had lost coverage. State officials call the rollout very successful.
Nebraska launched Medicaid work requirements on May 1, becoming the first state to enforce them under President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Most other states are expected to start about eight months later. About 70,000 adult Medicaid recipients in the state must show they work or do a similar activity for 80 hours a month, unless they qualify for an exemption.
KFF Health News reports on Eli McCreary of Omaha, who was 64 when, he said, a hospital told him he was no longer covered by Medicaid just after a kidney cancer diagnosis. He said he canceled a CT scan and other tests and delayed an appointment with a physician. He said a call center representative told him he had not met a work requirement. Attorneys and policy professionals who work with Medicaid enrollees said his substance use treatment and other health conditions should have exempted him. The state's Department of Health and Human Services said it has no record that he called the health department, and he recalls dialing a different call center, one for food assistance accounts.
Health clinics and advocacy groups for poor and working-class Nebraskans say the rollout has had many problems, which they link to poor training and inadequate staffing. State data showed average call center wait times rose from about 13 minutes in May to 26 minutes in July before declining in August. A department spokesperson called the rollout "very successful" and cited state data showing 86% of affected applicants met the requirement or qualified for an exclusion, and 93% of existing enrollees kept coverage.
State documents outline $8.2 million in contractor costs over two years for Medicaid changes, including work requirements. The spokesperson said such funding requests "may not reflect actual expenditures."
