Author Topic: Requiring People To Work To Get Medicaid Went Really Well In Arkansas Until A Judge Stopped It  (Read 150 times)

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Requiring People To Work To Get Medicaid Went Really Well In Arkansas Until A Judge Stopped It
Without the work requirement, Julia wouldn’t have had the opportunity—or the push—to take the next step in her career, changing her life through education and work.
By Victoria Eardley   
June 10, 2019
Quote
Since 2000, the number of able-bodied adults using Medicaid quadrupled nationwide. The program is one of the chief costs for state governments, squeezing other priorities.

When last summer Arkansas became the first state to require Medicaid recipients to work in exchange for taxpayer-provided health care, welfare advocates would have had you believing the world was ending: health coverage for the needy was being slashed, the reporting process was too complex, and those who lost coverage didn’t even know about the requirement. On and on the hysteria went.

But those apoplectic claims were far from reality. Arkansas’ work requirement was a big step towards restoring the state Medicaid program to its objective. It was saving taxpayers money, freeing up resources for the truly needy, and—notably—changing people’s lives for the better.

What critics of the requirement neglected to disclose were the thousands of people who found work as a result of the reform—some for the first time in years. These folks went from a life of government dependency to a life of independence, an undeniably better future for both themselves and their families. These are real people, with real stories, reported by the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services in late 2018. ... [author cites examples of people who benefited from the policy] ...

By the end of 2018, Arkansans were on track to save at least $300 million per year because of the decline in enrollment. This was welcome news, given that Arkansas’ Medicaid budget has increased by nearly 60 percent since 2013 and is now more than double the state’s entire education budget. The work requirement put the state on a path towards a more sustainable program. Had the work requirement remained intact, there’s no doubt that the savings would have continued.

Unfortunately, a court halted the life-changing success of the Medicaid work requirement, thwarting budget savings and leaving thousands of Arkansans without the opportunity to lift themselves from welfare.  ...
Entire essay at The Federalist
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