The Sentinel-Record

DHS sets up helpline for Medicaid work rule

- ANDREW DEMILLO

LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas officials said Wednesday they’re setting up a helpline for people on the state’s Medicaid expansion program to report they’ve complied with a work requiremen­t following complaints from advocacy groups that the state’s reliance on a website to log hours worked is penalizing poor people without internet access.

The state Department of Human Services said beneficiar­ies can begin using the helpline on Dec. 19 and it announced the launch of an advertisin­g campaign aimed at letting Medicaid beneficiar­ies know how to report their work activities. The department said last month more than 12,000 people have lost coverage since it started enforcing the work rule earlier this year.

Under Arkansas’ rule, beneficiar­ies subject to the requiremen­t must work 80 hours a month. Beneficiar­ies lose coverage if they don’t meet the requiremen­t three months in a calendar year, and they can’t re-enroll until January.

Medicaid beneficiar­ies who are subject to the work requiremen­t will be able to report their hours worked by calling the phone line beginning Dec. 19. Beneficiar­ies previously had to report hours online or by calling “registered reporters” at insurance carriers or other groups that can log in and report for them.

“We are six months into this new Medicaid demonstrat­ion program, but wanted to take the time now to access what areas we need to shore up or improve,” DHS Director Cindy Gillespie said in a statement. “Though enrollees have had the ability to report by phone through carriers, friends, and registered reporters, we felt it was important to expand that option before we roll the next group into the work and community engagement requiremen­t.”

Arkansas was the first state to enforce a work requiremen­t after the Trump administra­tion allowed states to tie Medicaid coverage to work. The requiremen­t is being challenged in federal court, and a federal advisory panel last month urged the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to temporaril­y stop Arkansas from enforcing the rule.

Advocacy groups have criticized the state’s online reporting system and have raised concerns that many were unable to report hours worked because of lack of internet access. Critics of the requiremen­t said the helpline and expanded outreach don’t alleviate their concerns about the restrictio­n.

“Fundamenta­lly I think this is just a Band-Aid on what is a broken bone,” said Sam Brooke, deputy legal director for the Southern Poverty Law Center, one of three groups suing over Arkansas’ requiremen­t.

The helpline, which is 1-855372-1084, will operate from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week. DHS said its helpline staff will also proactivel­y reach out to beneficiar­ies who have logged some, but not enough, work hours.

Arkansas’ requiremen­t applies only to the state’s Medicaid expansion, which uses federal and state funds to purchase private insurance for low-income residents, and not the traditiona­l Medicaid program. Once fully implemente­d, Arkansas’ requiremen­t will affect able-bodied enrollees on the program, ages 19 to 49, with no children. The requiremen­t is being enforced on participan­ts ages 30 to 49 this year and will expand to include those 19 to 29 years old next year.

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