Judge Blocks CMS’s “Medical Frailty” Restrictions, Providing Temporary Relief to Millions of Eligible Medicaid Enrollees at Risk of Losing Coverage

10.29.2026 / Statement

WASHINGTON, D.C. - In response to a federal judge blocking the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service s (CMS)'s "medical frailty" portion of the 2025 Republican budget law (H . R . 1), which it ruled would unfairly cause eligible Medicaid enrollees to lose their health coverage , Anthony Wright, Families USA executive director, issued the following statement:

" The court appropria tely blocked the administration ' s attempt to broaden the already heinous Republican health care budget law, which will restrict health care access for millions . T he Trump a dministration's final rule would have made it exponentially more difficult for a person to qualify for Medicaid under a medical frailty exemption , potentially cutting them off from life-sustaining ca re . T his ruling will make a real difference for millions of eligible Medicaid enrollees who would have lost their coverage because of the Trump administration's illegal interpretation of the law.

" The court decision brings a welcome reprieve and further illustrates why the Trump administration should delay the start of Medicaid work reporting requirements set to begin two short months from now . T rain ing state workers to understand the post-ruling changes will take more than two months, let alone informing millions of medically frail patients and their providers . Anticipating these and other implementation challenges , Congress specifically included in the law a provision to allow the a dministration to grant waivers to delay the start of these new bureaucratic barriers for up to two years . As CMS's own rules have caused chaos and confusion for states, providers and patients , the administration mu st grant a blanket waiver for all states to delay implementation . Today's win shows that state legal challenges can yield impac tful results. More states can and should join the fight to challenge illegal and rogue actions taken by the administration . "