LITTLE ROCK, AR - Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders sent the following letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary-Designate, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., along with a waiver to allow Arkansas to implement a work requirement for all able-bodied, working-age recipients of Arkansas’ Medicaid expansion program. The text of the letter is below and can be found here. The waiver can be found here.

Dear Mr. Kennedy,

President Trump declared it in his inaugural address: a new American golden age has begun. But our country cannot unleash unprecedented prosperity if able-bodied, childless adults sit on the sidelines. And we won’t slash our deficit if our welfare programs pay people to stay on the sidelines.

Today, I am submitting a waiver on behalf of the State of Arkansas to allow us to implement a work requirement for all able-bodied, working-age recipients of Arkansas’ Medicaid expansion program, ARHOME. Under the prior Trump Administration, Arkansas was successfully implementing a work requirement before federal litigation halted our progress. This new waiver reduces administrative hurdles and other issues for legitimate Medicaid expansion recipients while still achieving our policy goal: to have Medicaid serve as a safety net rather than a poverty trap.

Our goal is never to take services away from those who need it but to help people stand on their own two feet so they don’t have to count on the government.

There are 220,000 able-bodied, working-age adults in Arkansas receiving free healthcare courtesy of the taxpayer, costing us more than $2.2 billion each year – and growing. Of those recipients, estimates show nearly 90,000 have no job. Most Arkansans work hard to pay for their health insurance while these healthy adults do not work at all. That is a backward, broken system.

Work is more than just a steady paycheck. It is a way to build responsibility and learn skills. It is an escape from the compounding problems – crime, fatherlessness, hunger – facing our poorest communities. It is a way to get off the path to poverty and get on the path to prosperity. And with Arkansas’ record low unemployment rate, it’s not hard to find.

President Trump has laid out a clear vision for America: one of smaller government, greater prosperity, stronger families, and better communities. All Americans can contribute to that great future, but not if they are watching from the economic sidelines. I ask that you approve this waiver when you become Secretary and let us get to work.

Respectfully,
Sarah Huckabee Sanders
Governor of Arkansas