Study: Ark. Medicaid work requirement fails to increase employment

Thousands of adults in Arkansas lost insurance coverage in the first six months after Medicaid work requirements were implemented, with no change in employment, according to a study published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine. The researchers found that the policy was associated with significant reductions in coverage for the 30-49 year olds targeted by the policy. “We didn’t find any employment changes and instead we see Medicaid coverage rates dropping and more people without health insurance – usually because the process itself was confusing or beneficiaries didn’t even know about the new requirements,” said lead author Benjamin Sommers, a professor of health policy and economics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. A federal judge halted Medicaid work requirements in Arkansas and Kentucky in March.