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More than 13,000 Medicaid people in Arkansas have not indicated whether they had worked in February, according to figures released Friday by the state, prompting them to lose their coverage under the new requirements. work.
Arkansas imposes working conditions that force people to work, attend classes or volunteer at least 80 hours a month to stay in Medicaid, a government-funded program that provides medical coverage to the poor. Lawyers for people who were expelled from Medicaid challenged the rules in court. A federal judge could put them on hold later this month.
[[[[Related: A federal court challenges the power of the Trump administration to define the working conditions of Medicaid]
The number of registrants who were not working or who did not declare that they were working jumped in February to reach 13,373. In January, 10,258 people were not meeting the requirement . Anyone who does not meet the three month requirement is launched from the program for the remainder of the year. To date, 6,472 people have not met work requirements in January and February, and if they do not report in March, they will be expelled from Medicaid.
During last year's program, which began in the middle of the year, more than 18,000 people were expelled from Medicaid.
This year, the requirements apply to even more people. When they came into force last year, people aged 30 to 49 had to follow them. For 2019, the rules were extended to people aged 21 to 29 years. They apply to people who have had Medicaid as part of the Obamacare extension, ie anyone earning around 17,000 USD a year or less.
The Trump administration has encouraged the demands of work by arguing that adults without disabilities should be asked to work and eventually move from Medicaid to private health insurance. At least seven state applications have been accepted and other states have asked to follow.
Critics argue that programs prevent people from becoming insured and that these measures try to exclude them from the program. Work requirements should not be followed by the majority of program participants, including informal caregivers, parents, or those taking addiction treatment.
[[[[Opinion: Medicaid's work requirements are common sense]
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