Can These Clients Stay on Medicaid? An Interactive Quiz

It’s a simple enough question: Can someone keep their Medicaid? Take our quiz to see how difficult it can be to answer.

November 2, 2026
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Starting in January 2027, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, also known as H.R. 1, adds new requirements to Medicaid. Now, people need to report 80 hours of work, volunteering, or other qualifying activities per month—regardless of whether they have other activities that take up a significant amount of their time, such as job hunting or caring for a sick family member.

In the midst of all that, they still have to figure out whether changing Medicaid rules apply to them. Finding the answer is more complicated and confusing than you might imagine. Take our quiz to learn about how the new Medicaid rules play out for the people who rely on this program.

Can These Clients Stay on Medicaid?

We’ve built a quiz with some realistic scenarios for new Medicaid applicants and existing Medicaid clients. For each one, you tell us: can this person get or keep their Medicaid?

Can Daniel get Medicaid while he's actively looking for work?

Daniel is a 47 year old with no significant health conditions. He quit his job in June to move back to his hometown due to a family emergency, losing his health insurance. He starts applying for new jobs right away, sending out applications almost every day, but nothing has come through yet. Applying for work and networking takes most of his time, so he is not yet employed or volunteering. In August, he applies for Medicaid to cover the gap.

Yes, actively job searching counts as meeting the work requirement.
Yes, but only if he logs at least 80 hours of job searching a month.
No, he can't get covered.

Show answer

Daniel stays uninsured.

Job searching doesn't count as work.

When Daniel applies in August, the state makes him prove he met the 80-hour work requirement in the month before—July. Medicaid’s new work requirements are unique among safety net benefit programs in that people must be in compliance with them before applying for the program, not only after receiving the benefit. Daniel was job hunting the whole time, but under H.R. 1, a job search doesn't qualify. The activities that count are narrow, mostly tied to SNAP or unemployment insurance work programs he isn't in.

Daniel is doing exactly what we tell unemployed people to do—hustle for a job—but he will not be able to get coverage until he lands one and can document the hours or unless he does another activity, like volunteering, that will cut into the time he can look for a job. Until then, he's uninsured.

Source: CBPP, “Falling Through the Cracks.”

Can Fatima get her Medicaid coverage switched back on?

Fatima has Medicaid and works steadily—more than 80 hours in most months, although her employer was only able to schedule her for 72 hours in February. Her renewal paperwork was due in January, but it got lost in the mail. Fatima first learns she's been dropped from Medicaid in early March, when a pharmacy won't fill her prescription. She calls her Medicaid agency that same day and turns in every form they ask for.

Yes, because she works enough hours on average.
Yes, because she resubmitted within 90 days of losing coverage.
No, she can't get reinstated.

Show answer

A solid worker loses coverage anyway.

A late renewal requires a brand-new application.

Because Fatima’s paperwork comes in late, the state treats it as a new application instead of a renewal. That changes the test she has to pass: now she must prove 80 hours of work in the month right before she reapplies.

Had her renewal processed on time, her hours from earlier months could have been used to meet the work requirement. But she happened to fall short of 80 hours in February, so she can't be reinstated, despite a strong work history and her effort to fix the problem the very day she found out. A lost envelope means she has lost her health coverage.

Source: CBPP, “Falling Through the Cracks.”

Is Dawn correct that Medicaid’s work requirement will not apply to her?

Dawn receives Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in addition to Medicaid. She’s collecting unemployment while she looks for work, and her SNAP caseworker tells her, correctly, that she doesn’t have to meet SNAP’s work requirement while she is collecting unemployment. In Dawn’s state, SNAP and Medicaid are administered by the same caseworkers, so she assumes Medicaid’s work requirement will not apply to her.

Yes, because she gets SNAP, the Medicaid work requirements don’t apply to her.
Yes, because she is exempt from SNAP work requirements, she is exempt from Medicaid work requirements.
No, SNAP and Medicaid work requirements are different, and being exempt from one doesn’t mean she’s exempt from the other.

Show answer

People who are exempt from SNAP work requirements have to separately prove they’re exempt from Medicaid work requirements.

If you’re exempt from SNAP’s work rules you still have to prove an exemption to Medicaid.

The law’s exemptions for people participating in SNAP are confusing. The logic is backwards from what most people guess: if Dawn was required to meet SNAP work requirements, Medicaid would excuse her. Because Dawn is exempt from all SNAP work requirements, Dawn has to satisfy the Medicaid work requirements, unless a different exclusion fits. She may still qualify for an exclusion from Medicaid work requirements for another reason, or be compliant with the requirements because of her income from Unemployment Insurance, but Medicaid agencies can’t exempt her based on SNAP participation alone.

Source: CMS, Community Engagement IFC, 91 Fed. Reg. 33348 (June 3, 2026), new § 435.554(c)(7).

Is Marcus exempt from the Medicaid work requirement because he’s a disabled veteran?

Marcus served two tours in Afghanistan and came home with injuries. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) rates his service-connected disability at 70% and he gets VA disability compensation every month. When his state rolls out the Medicaid work requirement, he assumes it doesn’t apply to him. He’s a disabled veteran, after all.

Yes, veterans with a VA disability rating who receive disability compensation are excluded.
No, only veterans with a 100% disability rating are excluded.
No, only people rated disabled by the Social Security Administration are exempt.

Show answer

A 70% disability rating isn’t enough.

The disabled veteran exclusion only applies at 100% disability.

The rule excludes veterans “with a disability rated as total”—meaning a 100% VA rating (or a 100% rating based on individual unemployability). A 70% rating doesn’t qualify for the veteran exclusion. Marcus is treated like any other adult in the expansion group: he has to log 80 hours a month or fit some other exception, like being deemed “medically frail.”

Source: CMS, Community Engagement IFC, 91 Fed. Reg. 33348 (June 3, 2026), new § 435.554(c)(7).

Can Priya keep her Medicaid?

Priya works about 40 hours a month at a coffee shop. Her city has a high minimum wage, so at $16 an hour she brings home around $640 per month plus tips.

Yes, she is compliant based on income.
Yes, the 80-hour requirement doesn’t apply to tipped employees.
No, 40 hours is under the 80-hour requirement.

Show answer

She complies with the work rules based on her income.

You can meet an 80-hour requirement in 40 hours.

The Medicaid work requirement isn’t only about hours. One way to comply is to earn at least the amount of the federal minimum wage times 80 in a month, which is $580 ($7.25 x 80). Priya made $640, so she meets the work requirement without working anywhere near 80 hours. A worker paid the federal minimum wage would have to work all 80 hours to reach the same $580. Employees in states and cities with higher minimum wages or employees who earn more than the minimum wage can meet Medicaid work requirements by working fewer than 80 hours.

Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Wisconsin are all states that have the same minimum wage as the federal minimum wage, and where Medicaid work requirements will apply.

Source: CMS, Community Engagement IFC, 91 Fed. Reg. 33348 (June 3, 2026), new § 435.554(c)(7).

Were you surprised?

Many people assume everyone in this quiz can keep their Medicaid: the job-seeker, the steady worker, the person already cleared for SNAP, the disabled veteran. Under Medicaid’s new rules, none of that is enough on its own, and coverage you’d expect to keep can disappear over details many people would not think to check.

This quiz is simpler than real life

As surprising as these five questions are, each one describes a clean scenario with a single right answer. Determining Medicaid eligibility for real applicants is far more complex: the rules change depending on what state you live in, what kind of Medicaid coverage you have, how your month actually splits across work, volunteering, and school, and more. And behind every one of those answers is a fact that may have to be documented or proven.

The people who have the most complex lives are often the ones with the least room to spare, like someone juggling two or three jobs with changing hours, someone taking classes while they work, or someone managing a health condition that doesn’t count as an exemption.

Why we built this quiz

For years, Code for America has documented similar challenges with benefits applications: seemingly straightforward questions about income and household composition can become complicated when people's real lives don't fit neatly into a form. When people have to understand more rules, answer more questions, and provide more information, people lose benefits they should be eligible to receive.

Did you find this quiz eye-opening? Send it to someone who would benefit from this information.

Do you work on Medicaid at a state or county agency? Code for America helps agencies put these rules into practice in ways that are less likely to create confusion or errors. Let’s talk.