By: Leo Cuello, Jane Perkins, and Elizabeth Edwards
Executive Summary
On March 5, 2018, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) approved an amendment to Arkansas’s existing section 1115 waiver (“AR Works Amendment”). The original waiver was approved by the Obama administration to expand Medicaid coverage in the State. Because the AR Works Amendment violates numerous provisions of law and will gravely harm thousands of Arkansans, the National Health Law Program (NHeLP) brought a lawsuit challenging it on August 14, 2018. NHeLP brought the lawsuit together with the Legal Aid of Arkansas and Southern Poverty Law Center. This summary lays out the basics of the lawsuit, the legal claims, as well as next steps for the litigation.
