Thanks for looking out! Although I’m shocked that you are able to tell the blood pressure of an anonymous message board user. Is that some sort of super skill you have?
Oooh. Snap.
So, they are opening a 30-day comment period? That’s it? No changes to the waiver that will mitigate the state’s own estimate that 95 thousand people will lose health care coverage? How will getting a bunch of comments help anything? 
It buys time to place the proper bribes??
Starting tomorrow, more than 5000 Arkasans will lose Medicaid due to work requirements
“DHS figures released earlier this summer show a little over 7,000 people were out of compliance for the month of June. Of those, 5,476 remained non-compliant for a second month, in July. DHS will release noncompliance numbers for August in the coming days, but it’s extremely unlikely that all of those 5,476 beneficiaries successfully reported their information in August.”
These strict work requirements were rolled out so quickly and sloppily that many thousands of people are probably not even aware that they are affected. Imagine being a working poor person who is in the hospital right now and learns on Tuesday morning that they don’t have insurance anymore. Or a person needing life-saving insulin for type 1 diabetes and going to the pharmacy and being turned away. From the article:
"… for the thousands of beneficiaries who not automatically exempt, the work rule may pose a significant challenge. Work activities can only be reported through an online portal — rather than by phone or mail — which may be inaccessible during much of the day. Many beneficiaries may be unaware of the requirement, or may wrongly assume that if they are working, they are meeting the rules. Yet it’s not enough to simply be employed: Beneficiaries must create an account via the online portal and report their hours on a monthly basis. "
This is the new Republican health care plan?
Why, one could almost believe the system was deliberately set up to throw as many people as possible off the rolls…
Nah. The new Republican healthcare plan is the same as the old Republican healthcare plan: “Let 'em die if they’re poor”. This is just the current ass-covering to make sure the rural poor don’t stop voting R because they realize that the GOP hates their guts.
Yeah, that’s a shame. People should have had at least 3 months to get ready for this.
Oh wait, they did.
You are deliberately ignoring the fact that many of these people who just had their insurance canceled were not even aware of the requirements. People move, mail gets lost or mis-addressed. They are used to renewing their eligibility once per year, so they would not think anything’s amiss to not hear from DHS for many months at a time.
Do you really think all these folks knew about the requirements, then just said “meh, screw it, I can’t be bothered”?
I invite you to the DMV on the 1st of every month to see how many people waited until AFTER their sticker is expired to get a new one.
I invite you to the Post Office on the 15th of April (or whatever is designated the last tax day for that year) to see how many people said “Screw it, I’ll do it later”
Yeah, people put off doing things until there are consequences for NOT putting it off.
So what? Fuck them?
Perhaps when they are eligible again in January, they will be a little more diligent in keeping up with the requirements that life has burdened them with. The same as almost every other able-bodied person in the country.
And then they’ll pull themselves up by their bootstraps and just be better people.
As I said earlier in the thread, if you think that able-bodied people should be able to just sit around and do nothing and collect money and health benefits, then we will just have to agree to disagree.
You have a mouse in your pocket? That’s a lot of first person plural. When did you get made the board’s official spokesmodel?
Middle ground, man. Middle ground. There’s a lot of it, and I don’t think you’re seeing it.
I tend to be sensitive about such things because I work in rural behavioral health. I know a lot of these people, and I get pretty tetchy when I hear them called freeloaders. These are people, and they’re doing the best they can. I get that they’re not doing as well you think they should be doing. But punishment to teach them a lesson won’t make their lives any easier or get you the results you want.
Emphasis added. IMHO one of these things is not like the other. Healthcare is more like breathable air and potable water: we as a society should not be limiting its availability only to the people we think “deserve” it or have “earned” it.
Ok, middle ground. They only have to do something for 40 hours a month. How’s that?
And I’ve not called anybody a freeloader.
Some things in society have requirements. A person needs to meet those requirements to get stuff. If they don’t, then they don’t get that stuff. It’s not a punishment.
If someone doesn’t renew their registration on time, do you think they shouldn’t have to pay a fine?
What about a driver’s license? If a person doesn’t renew their license on time and they get a ticket, you think they shouldn’t have to pay the ticket?
What about college? Financial aid forms and applications need to be submitted by a certain time. What do you think should happen if somebody DOESN’T get them in on time? Are they being punished if a school declines their application because they didn’t get it in on time?
Is there anything at all you think people should be responsible for doing if they want something?
As I said, again, if you think able-bodied people should be able to sit around and do nothing in order to get money or health benefits then we will have to agree to disagree.