Officials: Another 1,200 enrollees dropped from Arkansas Works due to work requirement

More than 1,200 people were kicked off the state's Medicaid program this month for failing to meet the program's work requirement, bringing the total number who have lost coverage for noncompliance to more than 18,100, the state Department of Human Services reported on Tuesday.

The state phased in the requirement last year for enrollees in Arkansas Works age 30-49 and began phasing it in this month for those age 19-29.

To meet the requirement, enrollees must spend 80 hours a month on work or other approved activities unless they qualify for an exemption.

Those who fail to meet the requirement for three months during a year are kicked off the program and barred from re-enrolling for the rest of the year.

Enrollees who lost coverage as a result of noncompliance last year, including the 1,232 who lost coverage Jan. 1, are eligible to re-enroll with a clean compliance record for 2019.

So far this month, 966 enrollees have done so, including three who qualified for Medicaid but are no longer in Arkansas Works.

Arkansas Works covers adults who don't qualify for other types of Medicaid and who have incomes of up to 138 percent of the poverty level: $17,236 for an individual or $35,535 for a family of four. A total of 247,374 people were on the program as of Dec. 31.

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Information from Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Arkansas Online.

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