Changes are coming to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Medicaid this year.
The changes passed in July 2025 as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, removing work requirement exemptions for some recipients of the programs.
Here's what you need to know about the changes.
New work requirements
Under the new law, several groups of people on SNAP previously exempt from work requirements must now meet them. These groups include:
- Adults ages 55 to 64
- Parents of children ages 14 to 18
- Veterans
- People experiencing homelessness
- Kids aging out of the foster system
Additionally, the law makes refugees ineligible for SNAP assistance.
Medicaid recipients ages 19 to 64 who are covered under the Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion must also meet work requirements. The expansion covers all people with household incomes below a certain level.
Several groups are still exempt from the work requirements, including:
- Foster youth under the age of 26
- Indian Health Service members
- Caregivers of a dependent child 13 years old or younger or a disabled person
- Disabled veterans
- Medically frail individuals
- Individuals in a qualifying substance use disorder treatment program
- People that are incarcerated or have been incarcerated in the past three months
- People that are pregnant or postpartum
The work requirements can generally be fulfilled by working 80 hours per month or by participating in a work program, enrollment in an educational program or community service.
Nearly 770,000 people are covered by the Medicaid expansion in Ohio, The Center for Community Solutions Director of Public Policy and Advocacy Tara Britton said, but many of them are already meeting work requirements or fall into an exemption group. The Center for Community Solutions is a nonpartisan research center focused on health services in Ohio.
"That leaves about 170,000 individuals that will ... require assessment and that will be the folks who have to in some other way show that they're either meeting the requirement or are exempt," she said.
Likely, if you're meeting work requirements for SNAP, you're meeting work requirements for Medicaid, Summit County Department of Job and Family Services Deputy Director Heather Yannayon said.
The law also changes how often recipients that have to meet the new work requirement need to recertify their eligibility for Medicaid. Instead of certifying their Medicaid once a year, they'll have to certify it every six months, Yannayon said.
How to meet work requirements
"They need to pay attention to those notifications, work with their county job and family services office to find a job, find a training program or a educational program that will qualify and meet those requirements," Ohio Department of Job and Family Services Director Matt Damschroder said.
SNAP recipients can participate in the SNAP Employment and Training program for additional workforce development support, according to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. The program helps participants gain skills, training and work experience that can lead to employment.
Additionally, OhioMeansJobs Centers across the state offer free assistance to job seekers, including career counseling, resume help, workshops and access to computers.
ApprenticeOhio offers a pathway to earn an income while you learn in fields like construction, healthcare, information technology and advanced manufacturing. The program combines on the job training with classroom instruction.
When do the changes go into effect?
The new work requirements for SNAP recipients goes into effect Feb. 1. Recipients have to begin showing proof of meeting the requirements by March 1.
Implementation guidance on changes to Medicaid are expected this summer, with states required to roll out the work requirements Jan. 1, 2027, although extensions may be granted.
"There's also a lot of requirements around how early the state needs to send notification to an individual if they are in that sort of will require assessment category of folks," Britton said.
Britton wants people to know they have time before these changes go into effect, she said.
"Keep applying for Medicaid if you need it. Keep going to the doctor if you're enrolled in Medicaid, using that coverage just as you always have," she said, "but keep a look out for notification if you know you fall into that category.
What if I'm not compliant?
SNAP recipients that don't meet the new work requirements will lose their benefits after three months. To get back on SNAP, individuals must meet the work requirement for 30 days. Participants covered by the new work requirements will only get three months of SNAP every three years without meeting the requirement.
States must issue notice of noncompliance with the new Medicaid rules. Recipients will then have 30 days to show compliance before being unenrolled.
More changes to SNAP still to come
SNAP recipients may still need to look out for more changes that might impact the program this year.
Gov. Mike DeWine's office submitted a waiver to the federal government to add sugary drinks and soda to the list of items banned from being purchased with SNAP funds, Yannayon said. It's likely this ban will be put in place in July, she said.
The federal government is also cracking down on SNAP fraud, which has the potential to eventually impact recipients.
"Also as a part of HR 1 passed last year, Congress for the first time enacted a requirement that if states are not at a 6% error rate level that depending on how much above that error rate they are states would have to pick up a share of the total cost of benefits for SNAP," Damschroder said.
Ohio is required to get its error rate below 6% by Oct. 1, 2027.
"We've got plenty of time to work on our error rate that has been coming down since the end of the pandemic," Damschroder said.
The state's 2025 error rate was 9.13%, and if that doesn't come down, the state would have to pay more than $300 million a year to supplement the program, he said.
