'Reality couldn't be more different': Rights group alarmed over GOP health care move

A pair of leading humanitarian groups warned Tuesday that millions of people will soon be “at risk of an avoidable loss of healthcare coverage” as states move to implement new Medicaid work requirements, which were at the center of the reconciliation package enacted by congressional Republicans and President Donald Trump last year.

Oxfam America and Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned in a joint letter to top federal health officials that the work requirements—which mostly target adults in states that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act—will result in a massive surge in the uninsured population if concrete steps aren’t taken to mitigate coverage losses.

The groups point to a Congressional Budget Office analysis projecting the Trump-GOP budget law “will cause roughly 10 million people to lose health insurance coverage by 2034,” increasing “the number of uninsured people in the US by nearly 50%, exposing millions of people to high drug and hospital costs, and forcing many to forgo or ration healthcare.”

Under the 2025 law, people subject to the work requirements must document 80 hours per month of work or another qualifying activity.

“Work requirements are sold as sensible, pragmatic reforms, but the lived reality couldn’t be more different.”

Analysts have warned that the new work reporting mandates—which account for around $326 billion of the Trump-GOP law’s total cuts to Medicaid—will create massive administrative hurdles and burdens for Medicaid recipients and for states. Given that most Medicaid recipients already work, experts say coverage loss from the new mandates will largely be attributable to enrollees’ failure to comply with byzantine reporting procedures.

“Work requirements are sold as sensible, pragmatic reforms, but the lived reality couldn’t be more different,” said Jackson Gandour, senior policy advisor for economic justice at Oxfam America. “In practice, evidence shows they can create unfair and effectively insurmountable barriers for people who need coverage and are making every effort to meet the requirements.”

The federal work requirements are set to formally take effect in most states by January 2027—though some states are rushing forward with the mandates ahead of schedule, heightening fears of chaos and large-scale coverage loss. By June 1, federal agencies must issue guidance to states on how to implement the new Medicaid work requirements.

Oxfam and HRW urged the Trump administration to do all it can to mitigate coverage loss, including by “reducing documentation requirements, broadly interpreting exemptions, and recognizing a wide range of qualifying activities that reflect real labor conditions, including gig work, unpaid caregiving, and seasonal employment.”

A 36-year-old woman in Atlanta, Georgia—which has state-level work requirements that predate the Trump-GOP mandates—told the humanitarian groups that she lost Medicaid and nutrition assistance after her child was born late last year, despite working sufficient hours to comply with Georgia’s requirements.

“After I had the baby, my Medicaid and food stamps were turned off,” she said. “[They] said that I failed to report that I was working.”

The woman said she’s spent months trying to restore her coverage, encountering chaos and administrative barriers.

“It’s hectic,” she said. “You’re not able to reach anybody.”

The Urban Institute has estimated that even if strong mitigation measures are put in place, around 3 million people could lose Medicaid coverage due to the new federal work requirements.

“These work requirements address a problem that doesn’t exist since most Medicaid recipients are already working,” said Matt McConnell, economic justice and rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “They won’t fix the budget. They just strip healthcare from millions of low-income people by making it harder for them to prove they qualify.”