Medicaid Work Mandate In Arkansas Didn’t Boost Employment And Left Thousands Dropped From Insurance
A new study may undercut one of the Trump administration's key arguments that work requirements would cut unemployment rates. “It should certainly be a warning sign that there’s potential for large coverage losses, potential for significant confusion,” said Benjamin Sommers, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health and the study’s lead author. Arkansas's results are closely watched as other conservative states consider more restrictions to their Medicaid programs.
Modern Healthcare:
More Arkansans Uninsured, Unemployed Post-Medicaid Work Requirement
After Arkansas established a Medicaid work requirement last year, significantly fewer low-income adults subject to the mandate reported having health insurance than the year before, and fewer had a job or were engaged in other qualifying community engagement activities, a new study found. That contrasted with the experience of low-income adults in Arkansas who were not subject to the work requirement, as well as with comparable people in Kentucky, Louisiana and Texas, three states that did not impose a Medicaid work requirement. Those comparison groups all reported little or no change in their insurance rate from 2017 to 2018. (Meyer, 6/19)
Politico:
Trump-Approved Medicaid Work Rules Didn't Increase Employment, Study Finds
Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health found the uninsured rate also increased for Arkansans between 30 and 49 years old — the age range of the first Medicaid beneficiaries subject to the new work requirements. The findings could undercut one of the Trump administration's central arguments for approving the requirements — that mandating work as a condition of Medicaid coverage would spur employment and improve health. (Pradhan, 6/19)
Kaiser Health News:
Study: Arkansas Medicaid Work Requirement Hits Those Already Employed
While the thousands of Arkansas residents losing Medicaid coverage has been documented since last year, the Harvard study is the first to provide evidence that the change left them uninsured and did not promote employment. The results, based on a telephone survey of about 3,000 low-income adults in Arkansas, concluded that the law befuddled enrollees and that its mandatory reporting requirements led many to unnecessarily lose coverage. “Lack of awareness and confusion about the reporting requirements were common, which may explain why thousands of individuals lost coverage,” the researchers wrote. (Galewitz, 6/19)
In other news on Medicaid —
Politico:
Pulse Check: What It's Like To Run Medicaid, With Tim Hill
Tim Hill carved out a nearly three-decade career in the federal government, ultimately rising to a role where he oversaw Medicaid for much of last year.
Now at IMPAQ International, Hill sat down with Dan Diamond to discuss the day-to-day operations of programs like Medicaid, balancing civil service with political changes and some CMS initiatives that have been overshadowed. After the break, Rachana Pradhan and Adam Cancryn join Dan to discuss POLITICO's report on rising tensions between HHS and the White House. (6/20)
