House Appropriations Committee Approves Bill With Small Gains for Aging Programs

• By: USAging
• On: 06/11/2026 17:08:07
• In: Policy & Advocacy

This week, the House Appropriations Committee approved its FY 2027 Labor-HHS funding bill, which includes several modest increases to Older Americans Act (OAA) programs, including OAA Title III C Nutrition Programs, Title VI Native American Aging Programs and the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program. However, the bill contains no funding for the OAA Title V Senior Community Service Employment Program. For more information on the bill, you can read our latest Legislative Update.
 
If you have sent a letter to or met with your lawmakers in support of OAA funding for FY 2027, we thank you! Your advocacy helped get these gains into the House Committee’s bill, but our work is not done yet. Expect an OAA funding Advocacy Alert focused on the Senate early next week.

CMS Launches State Framework to Implement Medicaid Work Requirements, More Beneficiaries to Lose Coverage

• By: USAging
• On: 06/05/2026 14:08:26
• In: Policy & Advocacy

This week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released an interim rule establishing a framework that states must use to implement the new Medicaid work requirements, which are required to be in place by January 1, 2027. The six-month timeline will put pressure on states to swiftly change their eligibility processes and other policies regardless of the added costs.  

A major concern of both states and beneficiary advocates is CMS’ restrictive policy on medical frailty. The framework requires states to further evaluate a beneficiary's ability to work as part of the medical frail exemption from the work requirements. Simply having a complex medical condition or disability is not sufficient, and beneficiaries will have to prove they cannot meet the work requirement. This means fewer people will be exempted as medically frail, and CMS estimates 2.3 million people will lose Medicaid coverage next year due to this specific requirement.  

CMS is accepting comments for feedback until July 31.