A federal judge just told seriously ill North Carolinians: focus on getting better, not on extra paperwork

North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson's office challenged a federal Medicaid rule that would have required some people classed as 'medically frail' — people living with serious illnesses — to produce extra proof that their condition exempted them from upcoming work requirements. A federal judge agreed with the coalition of states and blocked that stricter standard, holding that Congress had already written the protection for these patients into law. The ruling does not change the wider work-requirement rules; it keeps an added layer of paperwork from standing between seriously ill people and coverage the law already promises them. 'When we filed this lawsuit, I told people battling cancer and other serious illnesses to focus on getting better and let us handle the legal fight,' Jackson said. 'Today, we won that fight.'

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: legal ruling