FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP with additional reporting by Jack Crumley) — Republican Gov. Matt Bevin's administration has filed its own lawsuit in response to a legal action challenging Kentucky's first-in-the-nation work requirement for Medicaid.
Bevin administration officials said Monday their suit filed in federal court in Kentucky seeks a ruling that the state's Medicaid waiver fully complies with federal law.
The action comes after three nonprofit groups recently sued the federal government, asking a judge to block Kentucky's Medicaid waiver granted by the Trump administration.
Bevin's administration says its own lawsuit is meant to ensure the state's voice is heard and that reasons for creating the Medicaid rules are fully considered.
The federal government recently said it would let Kentucky be the first state to require many of its Medicaid recipients to have a job or do volunteer work in order to keep their health coverage.
Bevin has previously said that if a court strikes down any element of his work requirements for Medicaid, he'll end the expanded Medicaid program in his state altogether. Hundreds of thousands of people receive health coverage through that program.