Originally published on 1/13/26

Some 7.3 million caregivers between the ages of 19 and 64 receive Medicaid coverage for their own health insurance, according to a recent AARP report. But these caregivers may need to rethink their coverage if states don’t guarantee the protections given to them by new Medicaid work requirements in President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s (OBBBA). What exactly are the new requirements? And can caregivers do anything to help ensure their protections are met? We break it all down below. 

What to know about the new Medicaid work requirements 

On July 4, 2025, President Trump signed the OBBBA into law. By doing so, he required all Medicaid users aged 19 to 64 to work at least 80 hours a month at a job or be enrolled in an educational program or a volunteer program due to the new “community engagement”—or work—requirements. The only exception to that rule are caregivers and people with disabilities.

The shift is expected to impact around 77 million Americans. 

“The One Big Beautiful Bill protects and strengthens Medicaid for those who rely on it—pregnant women, children, seniors, people with disabilities and low-income families—while eliminating waste, fraud and abuse,” The White House wrote in a statement in June of 2025. “The One Big Beautiful Bill removes illegal aliens, enforces work requirements and protects Medicaid for the truly vulnerable.” 

To ensure that work requirements are being met, state offices must check existing Medicaid users’ work hours at least twice a year, but as of publication there is no news on how they plan to do that. New Medicaid users will need to provide documentation proving they can meet the requirements. The government is still working out which documents will be considered acceptable for tracking new and current Medicare users’ working hours. 

The work requirements are expected to be in place in 2027, giving states enough time to get their tracking systems set up. But states can start enforcing these requirements sooner if they submit the proper paperwork.  

How the new Medicaid work requirements will affect caregivers 

Once states begin to implement the new Medicaid work requirements, caregivers are expected to be exempt from the work requirement. But experts are warning that if states don’t inform caregivers on Medicaid about the new process, millions of caregivers may miss out on the exemption, leaving them without insurance coverage. 

To fight that, experts are urging states to partner up with health plans, providers and community-based organizations who can tell caregivers about the change, to help ensure they get correct information on how to become exempt from the work requirements. 

“One thing we know about family caregivers is that they’re exhausted,” Megan O’Reilly, vice president of government affairs for health and family at AARP, told CNBC. “That outreach component is going to be critically important to ensure that people don’t get lost.”

The AARP also recommends that states limit how much documentation caregivers must submit to get on or keep their Medicaid coverage. It’s unclear if the application process will change once the new work requirement rule takes place. 

“The OBBBA community engagement requirements mark a significant change in federal Medicaid law. For the first time, most adult enrollees under age 65 must demonstrate they are working, in school or part of a group exempt from the requirements as a condition of keeping their health coverage,” reads AARP’s statement. “States will need to carefully implement the law and make policy choices such that family caregivers can easily secure and maintain the exemption to which they are legally entitled.”

Link to original: https://www.womansworld.com/healthcare/new-medicaid-caregiver-program-work-requirements-explained