WASHINGTON — The Trump administration announced on Tuesday what it called “a new day for Medicaid,” telling state health officials that the federal government would be more receptive to work requirements and other conservative policy ideas to reshape the main government health program for low-income people.

Seema Verma, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said the administration would approve proposals from states to require work or community engagement for people who want to receive Medicaid. The Obama administration had turned down such proposals, saying they would not further the purposes of Medicaid, which are to promote health coverage and access to care.

But in a half-hour speech to the National Association of Medicaid Directors, which represents state officials, Ms. Verma said on Tuesday that Medicaid had a higher purpose: to help people “rise out of poverty and government dependence.”

Many people on Medicaid, including many who became eligible as a result of the Affordable Care Act, are able-bodied adults of working age, Ms. Verma said.