Do you recall the Medicaid work requirements? The terrible idea of Arkansas Republicans about 2018 that, five months later, was overturned by judges, but not before denying health care to about 18,000 Arkansans?
Arkansas’ Medicaid work requirements have returned to the political spotlight as the quintessential example of chaos and foolishness since Trump’s reprehensible Big Beautiful Bill was passed last week.
Pundits are pulling out the wayback machine and citing Arkansas seven years ago as an example of how ugly (and wasteful) these policies can get, as estimates of how the bill, which was passed by the narrowest of margins by Republicans who initially opposed it before folding it, will affect the wallets of Americans in the middle and lower income brackets.Bill Kopsky provides some background:
Under then-Governor Asa Hutchinson, Arkansas implemented a Medicaid work requirement in 2018. Since almost everyone who was subject to the labor requirement was already working or eligible for an exemption, the policy did not increase employment for adults under the age of 49. It has nothing to do with income or employment. Reporting was. The state Department of Human Services set up a complicated and unreliable website where those who were subject to the program had to enter their employment or volunteer hours.In a matter of months, more than 18,000 Arkansans were left without coverage.
Political advisor Dan Pfeiffer briefed listeners on the bill during an episode of Pod Save America last week, where he spoke with former White House press secretary Jen Psaki. He summarized the bill as follows: 17 million people will lose health care over the next ten years, over 300 hospitals could potentially close, and over 3 million people will lose their food assistance due to new paperwork requirements for SNAP benefits. All of this is to pay for tax cuts that will only benefit the very wealthy and large corporations.
Next, a negative mention of The Natural State:
Republicans are promoting the notion that there are a number of physically fit individuals at home picking up Medicaid benefits. Furthermore, that is untrue. Medicaid checks are not given to anyone. Medicaid checks are not mailed. If you qualify for Medicaid, Medicaid will cover the cost of your visit to the hospital, cancer treatment, doctor’s visit for a broken limb, etc. Therefore, the only way Medicaid is saving money is if individuals aren’t receiving medical care.
The one aspect that polls quite highly is the job demand. This was done by Arkansas. Employment did not increase when Arkansas implemented work requirements on Medicaid. Not a single person was being lazy. They are attempting to portray this as the welfare queen, a fictional and racist concept popularized by Ronald Reagan, in which recipients sit at home and collect welfare benefits. But this isn’t that. I believe that 95% of those who dropped out of the program in Arkansas due to the labor requirements were already employed. Because you had to fill it out once, once a week, or once a month, they were paperworked out of their own health care. People lose their health care if they fail to complete it on time.
A similar trip down memory lane featured an Arkansas pitstop in an op-ed published in The New York Times on June 8 by Kevin De Liban and Trevor Hawkins, two legal aid attorneys who were successful in their lawsuit to overturn Arkansas’ Medicaid work requirements:
The state Medicaid office sent consumers perplexing 10-page letters that frequently conflicted with other coverage letters they got at the same time. Every night at 9 p.m., the website for reporting compliance shuts down. When it was operational, it was so complicated that we created video guides to help users get around it. (Many were still unable to.) at order to determine their status or correct mistakes, many spent hours on the phone or at agency offices, frequently requiring legal assistance. They occasionally had to nag their bosses for further wage documentation or statements that complied with state regulations. Thousands more people lost coverage due to associated paperwork hassles, while 18,164 people were fired for failing to meet employment requirements.
Furthermore, these fines functioned as a levy on important economic sectors. Hospitals and health clinics, many of which were already struggling to make ends meet in rural areas, took on extra expenses to sort out billing issues, take on more unpaid care, and assist patients who were unsure of their eligibility for coverage. Local charitable organizations, such as elder centers, food banks, soup kitchens, shelters for victims of domestic abuse, and homeless services, used their limited funds to attempt to assist people in complying. When patients learned for the first time that they had lost their insurance and would now have to pay for their prescription drugs out of pocket, pharmacists had to deal with their desperation.
As Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders did earlier this year, expect the six elected Arkansas congressmen who sold out their constituents with their “yes” vote to use some skillfully constructed gaslighting in the coming months, calling forth a thinly veiled ghost from that Reagan-era cliché in an attempt to justify the harsh cuts: Sanders stated that the criterion is straightforward. For able-bodied, working-age adults to be eligible for free health care funded by their fellow taxpayers, they must work, attend school, volunteer, or stay at home to care for their children.
As it turns out, you’ll also need to master the art of overcoming paperwork obstacles like Ginger Rogers, in high heels and backwards.
It’s dragon-slaying time!
The Arkansas Times, which relentlessly defends the fundamental rights and liberties in our community, stands as a light of truth in an era when critical voices are being silenced more and more. Our commitment to provide uncompromising journalism has never been more important, especially with Arkansas in the center of a broad culture war that is impacting our libraries, schools, and public conversation. We can’t accomplish our goals of defeating dragons and holding those in positions of authority responsible alone. You can guarantee that independent journalism in Arkansas not only endures but flourishes by making a contribution today. We can join the fight and make a difference together.
