Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
More Than 12K Have Been Dropped From Arkansas' Medicaid Program Since Work Requirements Were Implemented
Modern Healthcare: Arkansas Drops 3,815 More Medicaid Enrollees Over Work Requirement
Nearly 4,000 Arkansans lost their Medicaid expansion coverage in October because they failed to comply with the state's new work requirement, joining 8,462 other low-income adults who lost benefits in the previous two months. State officials reported Thursday that 3,815 of the 69,041 people subject to the so-called community engagement requirement in October were noncompliant for three months and were dropped from Medicaid. They will lose coverage for the rest of 2018 and can only reapply in January. (Meyer, 11/15)
The Hill: More Than 12K People In Arkansas Have Lost Medicaid Coverage
Arkansas began phasing in work requirements for Medicaid beneficiaries in August. In the three months the requirements have been in effect, 12,128 people were removed from Medicaid and are locked out until Jan. 1. In addition, there are 6,002 people with two strikes against them who are at risk for losing coverage next month. (Weixel, 11/15)
The Associated Press: 12K Have Lost Arkansas Medicaid Coverage Over Work Rule
“At the end of the day this is really just becoming a very punitive policy where people are getting cut off en masse and it’s not achieving its purported objective of helping people work,” said Joan Alker, executive director of the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families. Kentucky was the first state to win approval for a work requirement, but a federal judge blocked the state from enforcing it. A similar challenge over Arkansas’ requirement, which the state began enforcing in June, is pending before the same judge. (DeMillo, 11/16)
In other Medicaid news —
The Hill: Maine Governor Says He’d Run Again If Incoming Governor Doesn’t Expand Medicaid Sustainably
Outgoing Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) said Tuesday that he would consider running against Janet Mills (D), the governor elect, if she does not implement Medicaid expansion in a financially "sustainable" way. LePage defined sustainability as Mills leaving the state's budget stabilization fund untouched, The Press Herald reported he told WVOM hosts Ric Tyler and George Hale. (Keller, 11/14)
