FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Fifteen Medicaid recipients in Kentucky have sued the federal government in an attempt to block new first-in-the-nation rules that would require them to work in order to keep their taxpayer-funded health coverage.
The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by three nonprofit groups on behalf of the recipients. It's in response to the federal government allowing Kentucky to be the first state in the country to require many of its Medicaid recipients to work or do community service in order to keep their benefits.
The new rules apply to the expanded Medicaid population under the federal Affordable Care Act. Republican Gov. Matt Bevin has vowed to eliminate the expansion if any part of the new rules is struck down by the courts.