US appeals court skeptical of Trump’s Medicaid work rules

WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. appeals court is voicing broad skepticism about the Trump administration’s work requirements for low-income Medicaid recipients.

All three members of an appeals panel in Washington, D.C., lobbed hard questions at a Justice Department lawyer who was defending the policy Friday at a hearing.

The Trump administration has allowed states to require able-bodied adults drawing health benefits to work, volunteer or study. Officials argue that work can make people healthier.

But attorneys for Medicaid recipients say Congress intended medical care as the goal of the program, and the administration failed to account for potential coverage losses from work requirements.

On Friday, those arguments seemed to resonate with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The court gave no timetable for its decision on the appeal.