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Arkansas on Monday became the third state to receive federal
approval to require low-income residents on Medicaid to work or volunteer to
receive benefits.
"[It's] not about punishing anyone," Arkansas Gov. Asa
Hutchinson told reporters on Monday. "It's about giving people the
opportunity to work. It's to give them training that they need. It's to help
them move out of poverty and up the economic ladder."
Prior to Arkansas, work requirements for Medicaid were approved
in Indiana and Kentucky.
Still, Hutchinson predicted that Arkansas would be the first to
actually implement the law because it has been preparing to do so for about a
year, when it first sought approval for the federal waiver.
The federal waiver signed by U.S. Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma on Monday allows Arkansas to
require beneficiaries, ages 19-49, to participate in 80 hours per month of
community engagement activities such as employment, education, job skills
training or community service. The requirement includes exceptions made for
elderly, the disabled, children and pregnant women.
The Trump administration began allowing states to move toward
requiring Medicaid recipients to work earlier this year.
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