HHS has approved Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson's proposed changes to the state's Medicaid expansion program, with some modifications, according to the Times Record.
"I received a call last night from [HHS] Secretary [Sylvia Mathews] Burwell who indicated that she will be issuing a letter today that indicates the waiver for Arkansas Works will be granted and that she's directed their legal team to prepare the paperwork on that," Gov. Hutchinson said Dec. 7, according to the report.
Gov. Hutchinson proposed the name Arkansas Works for the program, which is currently known as the private option and subsidizes healthcare coverage for 300,000 low-income residents of Arkansas, according to the report.
There was "one sticking point" with Secretary Burwell concerning the proposal to provide incentives to businesses to provide employer-sponsored health plans, Gov. Hutchinson said.
He said the state would have to restrict incentives to "new employers that are for the first time offering insurance," according to the report. "[My proposal] was broader than what this administration wanted to give. It's more narrow, which impacts, really, the effectiveness."
However, Gov. Hutchinson said HHS approved his proposals to require the state to refer unemployed beneficiaries to voluntary worker training, require some recipients to pay small co-payments and stop making coverage retroactive for 90 days, according to the report.
"We got, really, all four elements. It was just one point that was more restricted than we wanted," he said, according to the report.
Arkansas pays 5 percent of the cost of the predominantly federally funded program. If the program continues, the state's share of the cost will reach a maximum of 10 percent in 2020, according to the report.