Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Tuesday that Arkansas will seek federal approval to require Medicaid recipients to work or volunteer to keep their benefits. Why it matters: About 220,000 Arkansans receive Medicaid benefits,

Unlike the previous requirement under Asa Hutchinson, Sanders wants her work rule to apply even to Arkansans ages 50-64.

Gov. Sarah Sanders on Tuesday (Jan. 28) pitched the new Trump administration for a waiver to Arkansas’ Medicaid insurance program that will add a work requirement for able-bodied individuals.

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced her plans for a Medicaid work requirement at a Tuesday news conference. Sanders said the program will update the existing ARHOME Medicaid program. The “Pathway to Prosperity” update will establish work and community engagement requirements.

North Carolina was the 40th state to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Lambeth said lawmakers in some of the holdout states have been impressed with North Carolina’s decision to pass expansion with a provision to create a workforce development program for beneficiaries.

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is asking the Trump administration to allow imposing a work requirement for "able-bodied" recipients of the Medicaid expansion program.

Changes could be coming for Arkansans who are on Medicaid. Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is proposing to add work requirements for some Medicaid recipients. Similar rules were imposed in the state in 2018 but later struck down by the Biden administration.