New Orleans In a sordid and shameful episode a few weeks ago Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson pridefully announced that the state had managed to bar 4300 people from health care support through Medicaid because of its new work requirement policies. Seema Verma the head of the federal Center for Medical Services (CMS) who had approved …
Tag: Work requirements
Fake-Work Ideology Will Kill People in Arkansas and Elsewhere
New Orleans Study after study details the fact that with 45 million Americans employed in low-paying service sector jobs paying usually minimal wages for often part-time hours in a period of almost record low unemployment hovering around 4%, work in this age of excruciating inequality is simply not enough to get a family out of …
The Racism and Rural-Urban Divide Behind Work Requirement Exemptions
New Orleans Imposing work requirements to punish the poor seems to be spreading like a virus around the country. It’s an ugly, mean spirited kind of thing, but a closer look at the way state politicians are trying to carve out exemptions to these requirements reveals even more about the self-serving blindness behind the exemptions …
The Transparent Cynicism of Medicaid Work Requirements
Little Rock Every spring soon or later I sit down for an annual cup of coffee with Ernie Dumas, former editorial writer for the Arkansas Gazette and currently still an op-ed columnist for the weekly Arkansas Times, but mainly an old friend from “back in the day” where we mark the ways our paths have …
For the Sake of the Poor, Goodbye and Good Riddance to Speaker Ryan
New Orleans Yes, there could be worse coming from the Republican side of the aisle if they have the opportunity to pick a replace for Wisconsin’s Paul Ryan as Speaker of the House of Representatives. Louisiana Congressman and current Majority Whip Steve Scalise is a good example of how much worse the country could be …