New FGA Research Sets the Record Straight on Arkansas’ Work Requirement Reporting Myths
- BY FGA
Naples, FL — New research from the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA) debunks the most common myths surrounding the reporting requirements for Arkansas’ Medicaid work requirement.
According to the report, the state made over a million individual communications to enrollees about the requirements, educating enrollees about what the requirement entailed and how they could report their work or volunteer hours. The information campaign included traditional mail, email, social media, phone calls, text messages, and paid advertising.
The report also pushes back against the widespread myth that Arkansas left a population unlikely to have Internet access with an Internet-only reporting system. Reporting was never “online only,” and the report revealed that 92 percent of adults in the work requirement age range own a smartphone, and 82 percent of Arkansans live in a household with access to a computer.
“There’s been a lot of misinformation circulated about Arkansas’ work requirement, all in an effort to scare other states away from pursuing meaningful welfare reform,” said Nic Horton, FGA’s research director. “It’s time to set the record straight: the Hutchinson administration went above and beyond to educate Arkansans about the requirement and provided a plethora of resources to help them report. Virtually no one indicated that they had difficulty reporting their work. The critics who suggest this was all a big trick to confuse enrollees are flatly wrong.”
The new report can be read in full here. Further FGA research on the success of Arkansas’ Medicaid work requirement, including stories from real Arkansans who have found employment as a result of the work requirement, can be viewed here.
###
The Foundation for Government Accountability is a non-profit, multi-state think tank that specializes in health care, welfare, and work reform. To learn more, visit TheFGA.org.
