ASAM Joins AMA-Led Amicus Brief Opposing Medicaid Work Requirement Provisions

ASAM, the AMA, and eight other medical societies have filed an amicus brief in support of litigation challenging CMS’ interim final rule implementing Medicaid work requirements. The groups argue that their most vulnerable patients are at risk of losing Medicaid coverage if unlawful parts of CMS’ interim final rule go into effect.  

The law implementing Medicaid work requirements, H.R. 1, excludes medically frail individuals, including individuals with a substance use disorder, from those requirements. CMS’ interim final rule, however, adds a condition that does not appear in the statute: Individuals must prove that their condition significantly impairs their ability to comply with the work requirements.  

“This additional requirement converts what Congress intended to be an exclusion based on one’s medical status into an exclusion based on the individual’s ability to work,” write the groups in the amicus brief.  

The brief argues that CMS exceeded its authority by adding this new requirement. Patients that would otherwise be protected under the original statute are at risk of losing their Medicaid coverage if this final rule goes into effect. The groups also note that CMS’ proposal to limit a state’s ability to use self-attestation for medical frailty exclusions is arbitrary and inconsistent with H.R. 1. 

The amicus brief asks the court to vacate the interim final rule’s provisions that impose an additional requirement on those who qualify for the medical frailty exclusion and limit when states exclude individuals based on the individual’s attestation of their own medical condition. 

Read the amicus brief here.