BATON ROUGE — Louisiana health officials expect 21,000 people could lose Medicaid coverage when new work requirements take effect in 2027, NOLA.com reports.

The new workforce requirements were passed under the federal budget bill known as "One Big Beautiful Bill" and require that certain Medicaid recipients prove they are working, in school, in job training or volunteering to keep coverage. One-third of Louisiana residents have Medicaid as their health care coverage. 

The paper adds that, based on how many people the requirements apply to and how many people are already meeting work requirements, some predictions that 100,000 people could lose coverage is an "absolute worst-case scenario." 

Louisiana's Medicaid enrollment has been in decline since the end of pandemic-era protections, which kept people from being kicked off the program until April 2023.