{"id":7424,"date":"2026-04-03T18:32:05","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T18:32:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/?p=7424"},"modified":"2026-04-04T14:10:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T14:10:51","slug":"how-medicaid-contractors-stand-to-gain-from-trumps-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/?p=7424","title":{"rendered":"How Medicaid Contractors Stand To Gain From Trump\u2019s Policy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div>\n<p>States are paying contractors such as Deloitte, Accenture, and Optum millions of dollars to help them comply with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act \u2014 a law that will strip safety-net health and food benefits from millions.<\/p>\n<p>State governments rely on such companies to design and operate computer systems that assess whether low-income people qualify for Medicaid or food aid through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps. Those state systems have a history of errors that can cut off benefits to eligible people, a KFF Health News investigation showed.<\/p>\n<p>States are now racing to update their eligibility systems to adhere to President Donald Trump\u2019s sweeping tax-and-spending law. The changes will add red tape and restrictions. They are coming at a steep price \u2015 both in the cost to taxpayers and coverage losses \u2015 according to state documents obtained by KFF Health News and interviews.<\/p>\n<p>The documents show\u00a0government agencies\u00a0will spend millions\u00a0to save\u00a0considerably\u00a0more\u00a0by\u00a0removing\u00a0people from\u00a0health benefits.\u00a0While states\u00a0sign\u00a0eligibility system contracts with companies\u00a0and\u00a0work with them to manage\u00a0updates, the federal government\u00a0foots\u00a0most of the bill.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block block--newsletter \" data-type=\"kaiser-health-news\/newsletter\" data-align=\"center\">\n<p>Email Sign-Up<\/p>\n<p class=\"newsletter__description\">Subscribe to KFF Health News&#8217; free weekly newsletter, &#8220;The Week in Brief.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The law\u2019s Medicaid policies will cause\u00a07.5 million people\u00a0to\u00a0become uninsured\u00a0by 2034, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.\u00a0Roughly\u00a02.4 million people\u00a0will lose\u00a0access to\u00a0monthly cash\u00a0assistance\u00a0for\u00a0food, including those with children.<\/p>\n<p>In five states\u00a0alone,\u00a0company estimates developed\u00a0for state officials\u00a0and reviewed by KFF Health News\u00a0show that changes\u00a0will cost at least $45.6\u00a0million\u00a0combined.<\/p>\n<p>The law\u00a0requires most states\u00a0to\u00a0tie\u00a0Medicaid coverage\u00a0for some adults\u00a0to\u00a0having\u00a0a\u00a0job,\u00a0and\u00a0imposes other restrictions that will make it harder for\u00a0people\u00a0with low incomes\u00a0to stay enrolled.\u00a0SNAP restrictions began to take effect in 2025. Major Medicaid provisions\u00a0begin\u00a0later this year.<\/p>\n<p>Documents\u00a0prepared by consulting company Deloitte\u00a0estimate\u00a0that a pair of\u00a0computer system\u00a0changes\u00a0for\u00a0Medicaid work requirements\u00a0in Wisconsin\u00a0will\u00a0\u00a0. Two other changes\u00a0related\u00a0to the state\u2019s SNAP program will cost an additional $4.2\u00a0million, according to the documents, which Deloitte drafted for the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.<\/p>\n<p>In Iowa, changes to its Medicaid system are expected to cost at least $20 million, according to\u00a0an\u00a0estimate prepared by Accenture, a consulting company that\u00a0operates\u00a0the state\u2019s\u00a0eligibility system.<\/p>\n<p>Optum\u00a0\u2014\u00a0which\u00a0operates\u00a0the platform Vermont residents use\u00a0for Medicaid and marketplace\u00a0health\u00a0plans under the Affordable Care Act\u00a0\u2014\u00a0estimated that\u00a0\u00a0cost\u00a0roughly\u00a0$1.8 million\u00a0to\u00a0evaluate and\u00a0incorporate\u00a0new\u00a0health\u00a0coverage restrictions.<\/p>\n<p>Initial changes in Kentucky, which has had a contract with Deloitte since 2012,\u00a0have\u00a0cost\u00a0the\u00a0state\u00a0$1.6 million. And in Illinois,\u00a0Deloitte estimated modifications\u00a0will cost at least $12 million.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"meta-authors meta\"><span class=\"author-name\">Samantha Liss: <\/span><br \/>\nsliss@kff.org, <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/samanthann\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><br \/>\n@samanthann<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"author-name\">Rachana Pradhan: <\/span><br \/>\nrpradhan@kff.org, <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/rachanadpradhan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><br \/>\n@rachanadpradhan<\/a><\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<section class=\"block--category-tag-list \">\n<div class=\"category-tag-list__content-wrapper\">\n<h3 class=\"block--category-tag-list__title\">Related Topics<\/h3>\n<p>Contact Us<\/p>\n<p>Submit a Story Tip<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><br \/>\n#Medicaid #Contractors #Stand #Gain #Trumps #Policy<br \/>\nHow Medicaid Contractors Stand To Gain From Trump\u2019s Policy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>States are paying contractors such as Deloitte, Accenture, and Optum millions of dollars to help them comply with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act \u2014 a law that will strip safety-net health and food benefits from millions. State governments rely on such companies to design and operate computer systems that assess whether low-income people qualify<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7425,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1564,1563,1561,1419,1559,1567,1560,1565,1568,1562,1566],"class_list":{"0":"post-7424","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthy","8":"tag-accenture","9":"tag-deloitte","10":"tag-health-policy-2026","11":"tag-kff-health-news","12":"tag-medicaid-contractors","13":"tag-medicaid-work-requirements","14":"tag-one-big-beautiful-bill-act","15":"tag-optum","16":"tag-safety-net-cuts","17":"tag-snap-benefits","18":"tag-trump-healthcare-policy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7424"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7424\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7456,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7424\/revisions\/7456"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}