95,000 D.C. residents at risk of losing Medicaid due to Trump bill
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About 95,000 D.C. residents are at risk of losing health care coverage through Medicaid due to the Republican spending bill recently approved in Congress, the District estimates.
Why it matters: President Trump's so-called "big, beautiful bill" impacts about 32% of D.C.'s Medicaid recipients, the District says, while also posing funding threats to hospitals and clinics across the region.
The big picture: There are about 300,000 D.C. residents on Medicaid.
- To comply with the new law, D.C. (and other states) will need to build an employment verification system, so that residents 19-64 years old can document they completed 80 hours of work or service a month to be Medicaid eligible.
- "That is the biggest concern that I have," Wayne Turnage, D.C.'s deputy mayor for health and human services, told NBC4 in an interview. "It will bring some cost to implement."
- The work requirement takes effect on Dec. 31, 2026.
Between the lines: The new federal rule comes as the D.C. Council is poised to pass the mayor's budget that takes 25,000 residents off Medicaid.
- More than 20,000 of those people will automatically be moved into a federal program called the Basic Health Plan, per NBC4.
Zoom out: In Maryland, 175,000 people are projected to lose Medicaid coverage, according to the state Department of Health's new analysis.
- "Passage of this bill means families will lose access to essential health care, and hospitals and clinics will face funding shortfalls," David McAllister, a spokesperson for Maryland's Health Department, told the Washington Post.
- A congressional analysis estimated about 166,000 people in Virginia will lose Medicaid, in addition to 136,500 people losing Affordable Care Act coverage.
What we're watching: Virginia hospitals are bracing for cuts to Medicaid payments that they rely on for funding. That's expected to begin in 2028, Axios Richmond reports.
- It could cost Virginia hospitals over $2 billion annually, according to the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association.
- Meanwhile, free clinics that are already stretched thin are warning about a spike in demand if thousands of Virginians lose coverage.