Conservative Health Care Experiment Leads To Thousands Losing Coverage

Last edited Mon Dec 31, 2018, 01:54 PM - Edit history (1)

Conservative health care experiment leads to thousands losing coverage. 'I have pre-existing conditions. But all they could tell me was, 'sorry, you didn’t comply,'' said one Arkansan who lost coverage. Politico, Dec. 30, 2018.

CABOT, Ark. — Arkansas is throwing thousands of people off its Medicaid rolls each month for not complying with work requirements, blindsiding vulnerable residents panicked about losing their health coverage. Views differ on the fairness of the unprecedented social experiment, but there’s unanimity here that it’s causing confusion. And that’s feeding a philosophical debate about whether low-income adults are ducking the work rules or just can’t navigate the tech-heavy reporting system that goes offline every night at 9 p.m.

Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson defended the program, saying it provides the help residents need to become independent. “These are not people that didn’t want to work,” he said in an interview. “It’s just they might not have had the training they needed, or they didn’t have a job opportunity and they needed additional assistance. And that’s what the objective is of the program.”
The state has removed more than 16,000 low-income adults for failing to log at least 80 hours of work, job training, volunteering or similar activity — including 4,655 in November.

Some of the people thrown off the program describe a nightmarish, confusing experience with clunky technology and no one to help them. Individuals who don't adhere to the new rules for three months get removed from Medicaid for the rest of the year. “I have pre-existing conditions. But all they could tell me was, 'Sorry, you didn’t comply'.”

The Trump administration has approved similar rules in Indiana, Kentucky, New Hampshire and Wisconsin, but they haven’t taken effect yet; Kentucky’s have been stalled by a lawsuit from advocates for the poor. Arkansas officials are belatedly making accommodations for people in a poor state with limited internet access after national backlash from health care advocates, including a new phone line for enrollees to report their hours. -MORE,
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/12/30/conservative-health-care-experiment-leads-to-thousands-losing-coverage-1076876

*Article on people working or in school getting kicked off:
https://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/when-arkansas-works-doesnt/Content?oid=25890378



Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R-AR) defended the controversial state program, saying it provides the help residents need to become independent.