Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky and seven other states are seeking waivers from federal law to initiate the policy, and the agency says it is ready to grant them the waivers in the coming days if the states meet certain minimal conditions, like exempting people who are pregnant, disabled or caring for family members.

The new policy would be attempting to solve a problem that doesn’t exist. About two-thirds of Medicaid beneficiaries are either seniors, disabled people or children. Of the remaining one-third, nearly 80 percent are in families with at least one working person and 60 percent have full- or part-time jobs, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. This policy change is merely a bureaucratic obstacle to keep poor people from obtaining Medicaid. Eligibility for the program varies from state to state, but the national median income limit for a single person to qualify for Medicaid is $16,642 a year.

Republican lawmakers who have demonized the program as welfare for “able-bodied adults” have long sought to require Medicaid beneficiaries to work. Those lawmakers have been particularly angry about the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, which they have been trying to repeal since it was passed in 2010.

Taking Medicaid away from people who are out of work would damage some of the most vulnerable people in the country. Among them are residents of rural areas who are struggling with opioid addictions and, as a result, cannot hold down permanent jobs. It will also hurt people who, through no fault of their own, lose their jobs and are not able to quickly find another one because they live in a depressed area or because economic changes have made their skills less valuable. Then there are people with chronic conditions like diabetes who do not qualify for disability, but are often unable to work.

“Even though sometimes I can get a job, you’ve got to understand — sometimes I can’t even walk,” Jimmy Brunson, a diabetic in Arkansas, told The Times last year.