A Cut by Any Other Name: How “Strengthening” Asset Tests Hurts Medicaid

Executive Summary

Medicaid asset tests hurt enrollment, waste state resources, discourage financial stability, and have a discriminatory impact on people of color, older adults, and individuals with limited English proficiency. But despite the established harms of asset tests, efforts to apply them more broadly and to make them more restrictive have emerged in the wake of the authoritarian Project 2025 manifesto’s recommendation to “strengthen” the Medicaid asset test. This fact sheet discusses the harms of asset tests, and the positive effects of eliminating them on enrollment, program administration, applicants’ and enrollees’ financial security, and equity in access to health care.