Natural State News

Gov. Asa Hutchinson confirmed that Arkansas will submit its plan for a Medicaid expansion overhaul to the Biden administration next month on July 14. The state hopes to receive approval by November or December of this year, KAIT8 reported.

Lawmakers proposed legislation to allocate Medicaid funds to private health insurance and to implement a traditional fee-for-service model for recipients who don’t attend work or school. The proposal would also include incentives to work for Medicaid recipients.

"No one loses health care benefits, but there are incentives to encourage that kind of behavior and that kind of progress in life," the governor stated during a news conference, Modern Healthcare reported. 

The state joined others with the expansion plan in hopes of increasing benefits for Medicaid recipients, but also hopes to help them escape poverty by enforcing work requirements, Modern Health reports. The hybrid Medicaid expansion plan was approved in 2013 by the Arkansas Legislature, but requires a three-fourths vote to reauthorize it annually. It would also need to be approved by the federal government.   

The proposal was unveiled following the Biden administration’s decision to loosen employment requirements in the state, KAIT8 reported. State lawmakers edited the proposal to enforce the requirements, which were approved by former President Trump’s administration. The Trump Administration had allowed for such requirements before Biden took office. 

According to Modern Health, approximately 300,000 people are currently part of the state’s Medicaid expansion. According to a study released by the American Action Forum, non-workers on Medicaid were 13 times more likely to be in poverty than full-time, year-round workers.

Similarly, a report by the Kaiser foundation found that 89% of Medicaid recipients would either already satisfy or be exempt from work requirements, leaving just 10% of able-bodied Medicaid recipients without a sufficient reason to forgo employment.

Hutchinson projects that the new Medicaid expansion model could cost the federal government an additional $3 billion over a span of five years in comparison to the traditional fee-for-service model, while fee-for-service would likely cost $310 less in state and local tax revenue during the same period, Modern Heath reported.