Beginning with a February 25, 2025 vote and a second on April 10, Jeff Van Drew gave the 2025 budget resolution the margin it needed to pass, including an $880 billion order to the committee that oversees Medicaid; on May 22 his vote did the same for the House's One Big Beautiful Bill Act; and on July 3 his yes went to the final law, whose work requirement covers disabled adults in the Medicaid expansion group unless they fit an exemption, and otherwise has them report 80 hours a month.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services expects that requirement to cut enrollment by 2.3 million people nationally in fiscal 2027. In New Jersey's 2nd District, 16,900 people with disabilities were on Medicaid in 2025, and statewide 3,683 New Jersey residents were waiting for Medicaid home and community-based services in 2026.
Jeff Van Drew's Votes on Medicaid for People With Disabilities
- Van Drew Voted for a Medicaid Work Rule That Reaches Disabled Adults in the Expansion Group, in 2025. Jeff Van Drew's May 22, 2025 vote helped H.R. 1 through the House 215 to 214; the final version, which drew his yes as well on July 3, 2025, cleared 218 to 214. Under it, an adult in the covered group keeps Medicaid by logging 80 monthly hours of a job, schooling or service, unless an exemption applies; the medically frail exemption covers people who are blind or disabled under the Social Security Act's definition, people "with a disabling mental disorder," people "with a physical, intellectual or developmental disability that significantly impairs their ability to perform 1 or more activities of daily living," and people "with a serious or complex medical condition." A disabled adult who fits none of those exemptions has to report hours or lose coverage, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services projects that "enrollment would be reduced by 2.3 million individuals in FY 2027."
- Van Drew Provided the Margin for Both 2025 Budget Votes That Ordered $880 Billion in Savings From Medicaid's Committee, Leaving Home Care Exposed. Van Drew's yes counted in the 217-to-215 adoption of H.Con.Res. 14 on February 25, 2025, and in the 216-to-214 adoption of the Senate text on April 10, 2025; a switch by him alone would have tied either vote, and a tie fails. Energy and Commerce, the panel with jurisdiction over Medicaid, was ordered to "reduce the deficit by not less than $880,000,000,000" over ten years. Especially exposed are home and community-based services, which keep disabled people out of institutions by sending aides and therapists into their homes; the Bipartisan Policy Center notes they are "largely an optional Medicaid benefit" and therefore "more vulnerable to reductions during periods of state or federal budget constraints".
What Jeff Van Drew's Votes Mean for New Jersey Residents With Disabilities
- 16,900 people with disabilities in Van Drew's district rely on the Medicaid his votes cut. Medicaid in New Jersey's 2nd District covered 16,900 people who qualify through a disability in 2025, part of 162,900 enrollees there, KFF figures show. For them Medicaid pays for personal-care aides, therapy and the prescriptions that keep a chronic condition in check, services funded in part by the federal dollars the law takes from New Jersey.
- 3,683 New Jersey residents are waiting for Medicaid home care that a tighter budget makes harder to reach. New Jersey's waiting list for Medicaid home and community-based services held 3,683 people in 2026, according to KFF. Each name is someone who needs help at home to avoid an institution; with home care optional for states and federal Medicaid funding to New Jersey falling 18% below what it would have been, clearing that list gets harder.
- 56,100 expansion adults in Van Drew's district face the work rule unless an exemption applies. The Medicaid expansion group, the one the work rule targets, counted 56,100 people in New Jersey's 2nd District in 2025. A member of that group whose disability fits none of the law's exemptions has to log hours each month to stay covered.
Frequently Asked Questions About Jeff Van Drew on Disability rights
What is Jeff Van Drew's record on disability rights under Trump?
Jeff Van Drew's votes decided both 2025 budget resolutions, which gave Medicaid's committee an $880 billion savings target, and the House's May passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and he voted for the final law on July 3, 2025. Under its work requirement, disabled expansion enrollees must report hours unless they fit an exemption, and its cuts strain the optional home care that many New Jersey residents with disabilities rely on; 3,683 people were on the state's waiting list in 2026.
By what date does the work rule Jeff Van Drew voted for reach disabled New Jersey Medicaid enrollees?
The clock set by the law Jeff Van Drew voted for runs out at the start of 2027: New Jersey must begin applying the requirement "no later than January 1, 2027," and the expansion adults it covers also face eligibility reviews every six months for renewals on or after December 31, 2026. Under the federal rule, New Jersey checks for a disability or medically frail exemption using reliable information it already has, and asks the enrollee for more only when that information falls short.
Will Medicaid home care in New Jersey shrink because of Jeff Van Drew's votes?
Experts expect pressure on it: the Bipartisan Policy Center says many in the field anticipate that the law Jeff Van Drew voted for, after his deciding budget votes, will "slow or reverse recent HCBS expansion efforts" in states, and home care is the kind of optional service exposed when budgets tighten. In New Jersey, 3,683 people were already on the waiting list for those services in 2026.
Last updated: 2026-10-27