Study: Ark. Medicaid work requirement fails to increase employment
![Medicaid enrollment](/sites/default/files/styles/900x400/public/2019-05/medicatid-enrollment.jpg?itok=FEqT9p5l)
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.