Last year, the U.S. said

About 92% of people enrolled in Medicaid are already working, caregiving, attending school or disabled. That leaves about 8% of 71 million adult enrollees who would need to meet the new requirement. An estimated 5 million people are likely to lose coverage altogether, according to previous estimates of the bill from the Congressional Budget Office.has had a work requirement that kicks people off for noncompliance. More than 18,000 lost coverage after it kicked in 2018, and the program was later blocked by federal courts.

“The people of Arkansas are generous and we want to help those who cannot help themselves, but we have no interest in helping those who are unwilling to help themselves,” said Arkansas Senate President Pro Tempore Bart Hester, a Republican. “I’m glad the federal government is starting to align with our thinking.”Increased eligibility checks and red tape related to work requirements may result in some people wrongly getting booted off, said Eduardo Conrado, the president of Ascension, a health care system that operates hospitals across 10 states.That could spell trouble for rural hospitals, in particular, who will see their small pool of patients go from paying for their emergency care with Medicaid coverage to not paying anything at all. Hospitals could have to eat their costs.

“Adding work requirements is not just a policy change, it’s a shift away from the purpose of the program,” Conrado said of the rule.That is also a concern for Sandy Heller, of Marion, Massachusetts.

Her 37-year-old son, Craig, has Down syndrome and other complicated medical needs.

She worries the changes would make it harder for hospitals in out-of-the-way places like hers to stay afloat and offer the services he could need.The lower costs and convenience of a blood test could also help expand use of two new drugs, Leqembi and Kisunla, which have been shown to slightly slow the progression of Alzheimer’s by clearing amyloid from the brain. Doctors are required to test patients for the plaque before prescribing the drugs, which require regular IV infusions.

“Today’s clearance is an important step for Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis, making it easier and potentially more accessible for U.S. patients earlier in the disease,” said Dr. Michelle Tarver, of FDA’s center for devices.A number of specialty hospitals and laboratories have already developed their own in-house tests for amyloid in recent years. But those tests aren’t reviewed by the FDA and generally aren’t covered by insurance. Doctors have also had little data to judge which tests are reliable and accurate, leading to an unregulated marketplace that some have called a “wild west.”

Several larger diagnostic and drug companies are also developing their own tests for FDA approval, including Roche, Eli Lilly and C2N Diagnostics.The tests can only be ordered by a doctor and aren’t intended for people who don’t yet have any symptoms.