Executive Summary
In comments to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell, NHeLP Director of Health Policy Leonardo Cuello urges HHS to reject Arkansas’s proposed application for a Section 1115 demonstration waiver. Cuello notes that the “Arkansas Works Program” would, in part, undermine the state’s expansion of Medicaid by requiring onerous premiums, and greatly restrict non-emergency medical transportation for enrollees. Cuello, moreover, calls on HHS to ensure that state health officials do not present a “work referral” in such a manner that “confuses enrollees into thinking it is a conditions of eligibility and/or otherwise dissuades enrollment in Medicaid.”
