Image of male nurse pushing senior woman in a wheelchair in nursing facility

The Trump administration may soon have to prepare for a legal battle following its announcement of an optional Medicaid block grant program for states, legal experts said. 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released guidance on its new “Healthy Adult Opportunity” program last week, which allows participating states to receive a lump sum for its Medicaid program for adults under the age of 65 who don’t have disabilities and aren’t eligible under a state plan. 

The federal government should expect a “pretty quick litigation response” with the guidance’s release, Boston University law professor Nicole Huberfeld told Bloomberg Law.

Legal challenges around the program include questions on whether the amount of funding states receive through a Medicaid waiver can be changed, and if it fills Medicaid’s purpose of providing care for poor people, the report stated. 

“It’s very hard to square the Medicaid statute with a true block grant proposal,” Nicholas Bagley, a health law professor at the University of Michigan and former Justice Department attorney, told the news agency. 

The announcement has several provider groups — including long-term care advocates — concerned. LeadingAge warned that the new program would “only make it harder” for providers to receive proper funding. 

“As it is, LeadingAge members must fight for every penny from state coffers allocated to cover the costs of providing vital long-term services and support to older adults and people with disabilities. This new type of waiver would only make it harder,” LeadingAge President and CEO Katie Smith Sloan said.