And only 844 people actually satisfied the state's 80-hours-a-month work requirement.
In Arkansas, residents on Medicaid need to report 80-hours-a-month of work or service online to keep their health insurance under new requirements. So far, more than 5,000 people have failed to do so, jeopardizing their continuous coverage.
About 5,426 people who qualify for the public health insurance program designed for low-income people failed to report 80 hours of work in June and July, according to the latest numbers from Arkansas’ Department of Human Services. If they fail to report hours in August, Arkansas officials will boot people who are otherwise eligible for Medicaid off the program for the rest of the calendar year.
In July, only 844 residents actually satisfied the work requirement, which must be reported online. Nearly 13,000 failed to in July. Of the roughly 43,000 residents subject to the work requirement — a number expected to grow as state officials are rolling out the requirements by age group — the majority were exempt from the requirement.
Federal officials say the requirement is “about giving people an opportunity to work,” but the data doesn’t demonstrate this so far. In fact, state data appears to confirm that most people on Medicaid are working or are too frail to work, as other analyses have also demonstrated.
