A pair of prominent Jenner & Block partners have signed on to represent 15 Kentucky residents in a proposed federal class-action suit challenging the state's newly approved Medicaid work requirements.

Thomas Perrelli and Ian Gershengorn, both former high-ranking federal government lawyers based in the firm's Washington, D.C., office, are representing the National Health Law Program in a suit filed last week in federal court in D.C. The other plaintiffs are fellow advocacy groups Kentucky Equal Justice Center and the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services approved Kentucky's request for a waiver from federal Medicaid law. The waiver effectively imposes a requirement that able-bodied Medicaid recipients aged 19 to 64 participate in 80 hours per month of employment or “community engagement” activities such as jobs training. In addition, the program imposes a monthly premium based on household income.

The legal challenge to these mandates and premiums is part of Jenner & Block's robust pro bono practice, said Perrelli, founder and chairman of the firm's Government Controversies and Public Policy Litigation Practice. Perrelli previously served three years as U.S. associate attorney general, the third highest-ranking official in the U.S. Department of Justice. Gershengorn worked in the Obama administration for eight years, most recently as acting solicitor general, and now chairs Jenner & Block's Appellate and Supreme Court Practice.

“Both Ian and I have a lot of experience in litigating substantive [Administrative Procedure Act]-type claims in federal court from our experience in the government, so it seemed like a really good fit for us to get together and assist and help on this matter,” Perrelli said in an interview.

Neither HHS officials, nor officials with Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin's office replied to emailed requests for comment on Monday.

The named plaintiffs, who range in age from 20 to 62 and seek class certification, rely on Medicaid but would be unable to comply with the new requirements, thereby jeopardizing their health coverage under the federal safety-net program, the complaint alleges.

“The Secretary's … approval of Kentucky's request … will harm Kentuckians across the state—housekeepers and custodians, ministers and morticians, car repairmen, retired workers, students, church administrators, bank tellers, caregivers, and musicians—who need a range of health services, including check-ups, diabetes treatment, mental health services, blood pressure monitoring and treatment, and vision and dental care,” the complaint says.

The suit is brought largely under the Administrative Procedure Act and argues that the defendants, HHS, CMS and the agencies' top officials, exceeded their authority in approving Kentucky's waiver. It also argues that the work and community engagement requirements “are not an experimental, pilot, or demonstration project, nor are they likely to promote the objectives of the Medicaid Act,” according to the complaint.

The suit also alleges that the waiver approval is a violation of the U.S. Constitution's Take Care Clause, which allows judicial action against presidential action that undermines congressional statutes signed into law.

“The power to 'transform' a congressional program is a legislative power vested in Congress,” according to the complaint. “An effort to 'transform' a statute outside that legislative process is at odds with the President's duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed.”

Other Jenner & Block lawyers involved in the representation include litigation partner Devi Rao, as well as litigation associates Samuel Jacobson, Natacha Lam and Lauren Hartz, all based in the D.C. office. The Kentucky Equal Justice Center and SPLC are represented by attorneys within the organizations.

At least nine other states have proposed similar changes to Medicaid, most of them led by Republican governors. They include Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Utah and Wisconsin, according to Reuters news agency.