Wisconsin Department of Health Services shares Medicaid work requirement compliance plans
byBrandon Pudwill, FOX 11 News
Thu, July 30, 2026 at 4:09 PM
File photo (WLUK/Lauren Pieczynski)
(WLUK) — Wisconsin’s Department of Health Services outlined how it will implement new federal regulations from the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill Act,’ including a new Medicaid work requirement
At a news conference Wednesday afternoon, DHS said some adults ages 19 to 64 enrolled in BadgerCare Plus without a dependent age 18 or younger will be required to prove they have worked or participated other qualifying activities to obtain and keep their healthcare coverage. Other qualifying activities could include going to school or engaging in certain volunteer work
DHS estimates these changes will affect roughly 200,000 adults in Wisconsin. It estimates roughly 63,000 Medicaid members will be at immediate risk of losing healthcare coverage
State leaders say the goal is to standardize processes and make medical frailty determinations as easy as possible on doctors. “We’ve been thinking a lot about this and what it looks like,” said Department of Health Services Secretary Kirsten Johnson
What we’re really looking toward for the first year is existing either diagnosis codes or things that we can identify that clearly indicate that an individual would fall into that medically frail category. Additionally in this first year, enrollees are eligible for one-time attestation so they can attest that they are medically frail, which then can be proven over the course of the following year. And we are really trying to think about again how we can remain human-centered, how do we ensure Wisconsinites have access to the care that they truly need, and how do we make this as less burdensome as possible on individuals who are Medicaid enrollees, but also are Medicaid members, but also providers.
Wisconsin Medicaid Director Amanda Dreyer agreed, saying medical frailty determinations are not a provider determination, but something the state needs to sort through
Updates on the state’s implementation of Medicaid work requirements can be found on its new federal work requirements webpage. Medicaid recipients can also receive notices through Wisconsin’s ACCESSpage and the myACCESS mobile app
The Trump administration says the work requirements are being instituted to reduce fraud and protect taxpayer dollars
The work requirement for current Medicaid recipients goes into effect in March
