During an event on Tuesday at the American Enterprise Institute, CMS Administrator Seema Verma said that there is a contingency plan if the courts were to strike down the Affordable Care Act, particularly the part that requires coverage of existing conditions.
AHCJ member Kimberly Leonard covered the remarks and reports that Verma declined to share details about the backup plan.
In the briefing, attended by about 30 reporters, Verma also discussed why more than 12,000 people in Arkansas have lost Medicaid coverage since the state instituted work requirements. She said that CMS is working to understand why so many people left the program.
Benjamin Hardy, of the Arkansas Nonprofit News Network, earlier reported that a federal oversight panel has recommended “pausing” the state’s Medicaid work requirement.
AHCJ is hosting a recording of Verma’s conversation for other journalists to use. Her comments on work requirements may be useful to reporters in states considering implementing such requirements.
