18 states urged the U.S. Supreme Court this week that let Arkansas choose work requirements for some of its Medicaid recipients. They want the newly elected Biden administration to continue the policy that was championed by the Trump administration.
- Defining lower court’s ruling as `flatly inconsistent with historical and current practices’ and could lead to ‘potentially disastrous consequences’, 17 states signed an amicus curiae — or friend of the court. The 18th state, Nebraska, filed a separate brief arguing against the lower court’s ruling.
- After the lower court had struck down appeals involving the Arkansas and New Hampshire work requirements, the Supreme Court in December had announced that it would hear the same.
- Arkansas in the plea request court gave go-ahead for using the work requirement for the Arkansas Works program. It uses Medicaid dollars to buy private insurance for low-income people.
- The 17 states, all of which have Republican attorneys general, are: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and West Virginia. An 18th state, Nebraska, filed a separate brief arguing that the lower courts’ rulings were flawed; its attorney general is Republican as well.
- The waivers were defended by the U.S. Department of Justice when Donald Trump was the President. The prayers are not sure about the stance the department likes to take with the change when new President Joe Biden is in office. According to sources, the Biden administration is likely to oppose the policy.
- The Commonwealth Fund, a left-leaning healthcare policy research institute, reported that the Supreme Court will weigh whether Medicaid waivers allow HHS secretaries the “power to fundamentally transform Medicaid from a public insurance program into one that effectively forces certain beneficiaries to seek workplace benefits instead.
- Future of the Medicaid work requirements hangs in the balance on the court’s ruling.