Local News
Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders wants to bring back the work requirements for Medicaid

Little Rock, Arkansas – In an attempt to resurrect and broaden a restriction that was halted by the courts but might find new life under the Trump administration, Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced on Thursday that she wants to impose work requirements on certain Medicaid enrollees.
Sanders’ remarks coincide with similar demands being made by other Republicans in a number of other states, along with more Medicaid cuts or limitations. Medicaid serves approximately 80 million people nationwide.
When Arkansas implemented work restrictions in 2018 under Sanders’ predecessor, Asa Hutchinson, more than 18,000 people lost coverage. The Biden administration and federal courts banned the rule, which only applied to able-bodied individuals on the state’s expansion program.
According to Sanders, she favors a more comprehensive rule that would apply to both the expansion and able-bodied adults on regular Medicaid.
Sanders told reporters, “I feel more confident because it’s a new administration that I think will be more supportive of things like work requirements.” “I believe a greater willingness to work with states to make changes, and they have already publicly stated that.”
Sanders is one of several Republican governors who have stated that they intend to request similar conditions for the program. Governor Henry McMaster of South Carolina has urged the state’s health agency to push for the reinstatement of its job requirement as soon as Trump enters office, while Governor Kim Reynolds of Iowa announced this week that she will pursue a similar obligation for Medicaid participants who are physically fit.
A new round of lawsuits against the restriction would probably start if other states imposed job requirements. As advocacy organizations fear that Republicans in Congress are looking to make more extensive cuts to the Medicaid program, there is a fresh drive for standards.
Washington Republicans have long pushed for work requirements for the program, and a 2023 House bill would have denied health insurance to almost half a million of the nation’s poorest citizens.
According to Joan Alker, executive director of the Georgetown Center for Children and Families, employment requirements are detrimental because they put low-income persons in a new situation.
“People are more likely to be able to work when they are able to address their health conditions,” she stated. “I believe the policy supports a goal that the majority of Americans support, but it gets it backward.”
Georgia is the only state where certain Medicaid users are currently required to work. According to Governor Brian Kemp, he wants to let guardians and parents of children under the age of six who live in households that are at or below 100% of the federal poverty threshold to sign up for Medicaid without having to fulfill the requirements.
In other places, like Idaho, where some Republican lawmakers want to revoke the state’s expansion, Republicans are pursuing cuts.
Laura Kelly, the Democratic governor of Kansas, is moving in the opposite way, urging the Republican-controlled Legislature to expand Medicaid this week. However, it is likely to be blocked by Republican leaders.
Sanders, meanwhile, stated that she hopes to preserve Medicaid expansion in Arkansas in some capacity. More than 200,000 people are enrolled in Medicaid, which was expanded in Arkansas, one of the few Southern states to do so under the Affordable Care Act.
Sanders stated, “I don’t think we’re in a place where you can do away with the expansion at this point.” “The road ahead is too far away.”
This report was written by Jeffrey Collins, John Hanna, Hannah Fingerhut, and Charlotte Kramon of the Associated Press.
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