Future of Medicaid Work Requirements Dims After Arkansas Demo Is Struck Down Again

by Leslie Small

A three-judge federal appeals court panel on Feb. 14 sided with a lower court and unanimously ruled that Arkansas' Medicaid work requirements are unlawful because they don’t align with the chief objective of the Medicaid program — providing access to medical care to those who can’t afford it.

“This certainly puts a damper on their plans,” says Joan Alker, a research professor and executive director of the Georgetown Center for Children and Families, referring to other states’ hopes to set up similar Medicaid waiver demonstrations.

In addition to Arkansas’ program, CMS has approved Medicaid waivers that include work requirements in Arizona, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, New Hampshire, Ohio, South Carolina, Utah and Wisconsin. Both Kentucky and New Hampshire’s waiver programs have been struck down in court, and Kentucky has since abandoned its appeal after a Democratic governor, Andy Beshear, replaced Republican Matt Bevin.

Arizona and Indiana voluntarily suspended their programs, Alker noted in a Feb. 14 blog post, while Michigan’s has been challenged in court. Meanwhile, an additional 10 states have applied for Medicaid waivers that include work requirements.

“I do think it [the appeals court ruling] will likely inhibit states from moving forward with work requirements waivers that have already been approved by CMS,” says Charles Luband, a partner in the health care practice of the law firm Dentons. “It is possible that CMS will continue to accept requests for work requirements and may even continue to approve them, but if they do, CMS is going to have to try harder to meet the standard that’s set out here” in the appeals court ruling, Luband says.

CMS, for its part, is reviewing and evaluating the appeals court’s opinion in order to determine next steps. Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) said in a statement that he hopes the Supreme Court will review the ruling in the case.

However, Luband says that may not be likely. “The [Supreme] Court generally likes to take cases when there is a split between the circuits, and there’s none here,” he says.

From Health Plan Weekly