Unitedhealthcare Connected General Benefit Disclaimer
This is not a complete list. The benefit information is a brief summary, not a complete description of benefits. For more information contact the plan or read the Member Handbook. Limitations, copays and restrictions may apply. For more information, call UnitedHealthcare Connected® Member Services or read the UnitedHealthcare Connected® Member Handbook. Benefits, List of Covered Drugs, pharmacy and provider networks and/or copayments may change from time to time throughout the year and on January 1 of each year.
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Puede obtener este documento de forma gratuita en otros formatos, como letra de imprenta grande, braille o audio. Llame al Servicios para los miembros, de 08:00 a. m. a 08:00 p. m., hora local, de lunes a viernes correo de voz disponible las 24 horas del día,/los 7 días de la semana). La llamada es gratuita.
Puede llamar a Servicios para Miembros y pedirnos que registremos en nuestro sistema que le gustaría recibir documentos en español, en letra de imprenta grande, braille o audio, ahora y en el futuro.
How To Apply For Arkids Coverage
Apply online at . If your computer has Adobe Acrobat Reader you can fill out the application online. If not, the print the application. If you are using a public computer and are not sure, simply ask for assistance.
Applications are also available throughout your community at many local health units, hospitals, churches, daycare centers, pharmacies and public schools. You may also request an application to be mailed to you by DHS.
Once you complete the application you can either mail it or deliver it to your local DHS office.
For more information call the ARKids hotline at 1-888-474-8275.
Arkansas Medicaid Asset Limits 2019
Individuals in Arkansas are allowed to keep $2,000 when they apply to Medicaid for long term care. If they are over this amount, they must spend down on care. It is important to note, that individuals are not allowed to give gifts of any amount for a period of 5 years prior to applying to Medicaid. If an individuals assets are more than $2,000, they should learn about Medicaid Planning strategies. This asset limit only applies to assets that are considered countable assets. Some examples of countable assets include savings accounts, bank accounts, retirement accounts and a second home. If you have multiple assets and are looking to access Medicaid, it may make sense to speak with a Medicaid Planner or Elder Law attorney in Arkansas.
Couples that both require Medicaid for long term care in Arkansas are allowed to keep $3,000 in assets. If there is one spouse that requires care, and one that does not, the spouse that does not receive care is referred to as the Community Spouse. The Community spouse is allowed to keep 50% of their assets up to $123,600 in countable assets which is known as the Community Spouse Resource Allowance. The Community Spouse is allowed to keep 100% of their marital assets up to $24,720 .
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Arkansas Work Requirement Increased Financial Insecurity And Reduced Access To Care
Individuals in Arkansas who lost coverage during 2018 experienced significant adverse consequences, the Harvard researchers found, including greater financial insecurity. Nearly half of those who lost coverage reported having serious problems paying off medical debt. Individuals also experienced reduced access to care with 56 percent delaying needed care because of cost and 64 percent delaying taking medications because of cost. These rates are significantly higher than among those who maintained their Medicaid or marketplace coverage.
Focus groups with Arkansas beneficiaries also found that people losing Medicaid lost access to needed health care. Among focus groups of participants who lost Medicaid, the majority did not learn that their coverage had been terminated until they sought care or tried to fill a prescription. I went to pick up my prescription and they said I couldnt get it, one beneficiary recounted. It was a big shock. At first, I was upset and then I was worried because I need my medicine. I shouldnt find out the day I need my medicine. Another said, I have to have my medication because I am epileptic, and I take three different seizure medicines. If I dont take it, I cant work. . . . I had to be stable and if I was not stable I was going to lose my job.
Work Requirement Took Effect In June 2018 And 18000 People Had Lost Coverage By The End Of 2018
Arkansas received federal approval in March 2018 to make some modifications to the states Medicaid expansion program, including the implementation of a work requirement and the unconditional elimination of Medicaids three-month retroactive eligibility, replacing it with a 30-day retroactive eligibility provision instead. The waiver amendment was submitted in June 2017, and Arkansas had hoped to implement the changes by January 2018. But the waiver approval noted that the work requirement could be implemented no earlier than June 1, 2018.
The state wasted no time, however, and implemented it as of June 5, 2018. The work requirement was delayed until 2019 for people under the age of 30, but applied as of June 5 to people between the ages of 30 and 49 who werent otherwise exempt. They had to work or participate in other community engagement activities at least 80 hours per month in order to maintain access to Medicaid coverage. After three months of non-compliance, Medicaid eligibility would terminate.
So people began losing coverage as of the end of August for failure to comply with the work requirement including failure to comply with the onerous reporting requirements, detailed below. By the end of 2018, more than 18,000 people had lost their Medicaid coverage in Arkansas under the new work requirement. A beneficiary who lost coverage due to non-compliance with the work requirement was locked out of Arkansas Works until the end of the year.
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Arkansas Medicaid Enrollment Numbers Over Time
Although Medicaid expansion resulted in a significant increase in enrollment in the first few years, enrollment had stabilized by 2016. Total enrollment as of January 2017 stood at more than a million people, but had dropped to 931,000 by January 2018. The state attributed the decrease in enrollment to a stronger economy and the states review of enrollees eligibility.
By January 2019, Arkansas Medicaid enrollment had dropped to under 850,000 people, due in part to the states implementation of a Medicaid work requirement in mid-2018. As of October 2018, there were 252,642 people covered under expanded Medicaid in Arkansas . In July 2018, before people began to be cut from the program due to the work requirement, there were more than 270,000 Arkansas Works enrollees.
But in the second half of 2018, over 18,000 people in Arkansas lost their health coverage as a result of the work requirement .
By 2020, enrollment in Arkansas Medicaid had rebounded significantly, due to the suspension of the Medicaid work requirement as well as the widespread job losses caused by the COVID pandemic. Total enrollment in Arkansas Medicaid/CHIP stood at 921,498 as of June 2021. And 277,284 people were enrolled in Arkansas Works as of June 2020, although that had grown to an estimated 317,000 by early 2021 .
When the ARHOME waiver approval was announced, Governor Hutchinson noted that more than 300,000 people were covered under the states Medicaid expansion program as of late 2021.
What Is Arkansas Medicaid Expansion Private Option
Arkansas is among the states expanding Medicaid, but it is using a non-standard approach or waiver. Arkansas Medicaid expansion waiver allows the state to use Medicaid expansion funds to subsidize premiums for beneficiaries who purchase private health insurance through the health insurance marketplace.
Arkansas received federal approval in late 2014 to amend its Private Option waiver. The approved changes establish health savings accounts for beneficiaries, allow cost-sharing for Private Option Beneficiaries at 50% of FPL, and limit some transportation services.
The growth in Arkansas Medicaid enrollment has played a significant role in the reduction in the uninsured rate in the state. According to U.S. Census data, 16% of Arkansas residents were uninsured in 2013, and that had dropped to 7.9% by 2016 a decrease of more than 50%.
However, the future of Arkansas Private Option/Arkansas Works is not certain. The state legislature must reauthorize the program annually with a 75% majority in both the House and Senate. In 2014, it took five attempts to pass reauthorization. S.B.196 reauthorized Medicaid expansion in March 2017. In 2019, the Arkansas House Medicaid expansion funding just two days after the states Medicaid work requirement had been overturned by a federal judge. But the following week the measure was approved was signed into law in early April, reauthorizing Medicaid expansion funding in Arkansas until the end of June 2020.
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Who Can Get Medicaid In Arkansas
You should apply for Medicaid if your income is low and you match one of the descriptions below:
- You think you are pregnant
- The parent or caretaker of a child and/or teenager under the age of 19.
- You are a child or teenager age 18 or under.
- An adult age 65 or older.
- You are legally blind.
- Living with a disability or disabled.
- You are in need of nursing home care.
Number Losing Coverage Exceeded Policys Supposed Target Population: Beneficiaries Not Working Or Eligible For Exemptions
About 3 or 4 percent of those subject to the Arkansas work requirement were not working and did not qualify for exemptions, studies estimate. Yet each month, 8 to 29 percent of those subject to the requirement failed to report hours or reported insufficient work hours. In fact, over 75 percent of those required to report hours failed to do so each month. Likewise, a study estimates that all but a small minority of Medicaid expansion beneficiaries in New Hampshire were either working or ill or disabled , yet 40 percent of those subject to the work requirement were set to lose coverage had the state not put the policy on hold.
News accounts corroborate that eligible beneficiaries in Arkansas lost coverage and were at risk of losing coverage in New Hampshire. For example, one working Arkansas beneficiary with a chronic condition explained that he lost Medicaid and then could not afford medications, which in turn caused him to lose his job due to his deteriorating health. Another reported rationing her medication after failing to navigate the reporting requirement and losing coverage, despite working 25 to 35 hours each week which equates to well over the states monthly minimum requirement. And a New Hampshire woman described her struggle to obtain a medical frailty exemption, which failed because her primary care doctor and neurosurgeon each insisted that the other should fill out the necessary paperwork.
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Dhs Just Released A Proposal With Big Changes To Arkansas’s Medicaid Expansion Program
There are big changes on the Medicaid Expansion front with tight deadlines for public input.
Everyone has the right to offer input. Here’s how to participate:
- Public hearing on Monday, 6/21, at 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. AR Behavioral Health Planning and Advisory Council : https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89852067259
- Public hearing on Tuesday, 6/22, at 4 p.m. : https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89251100312
- by Monday, July 12. You can send your comments to [email protected]
Continue reading for information on Legal Aid’s review of the proposal, including the key changes and information about why the proposal is likely to keep low-income Arkansans from getting the care they need.
Linked here are the details of the 85-page Medicaid Expansion proposal, which is now called ARHOME. These are the parts of it that are most likely to hurt Legal Aid’s client communities. Remember, the purpose of Medicaid is to “furnish medical assistance.” The state’s proposal does several things that run counter to that purpose. The state is asking the federal government for special permission to do some of these things through a “waiver” process that only allows a state to break from established Medicaid laws in narrow circumstances that aren’t met here.
Also, DHS will be leaving it to the insurance companies to collect the money, meaning that the Medicaid recipient may be at odds with the insurance company that is deciding whether or not to approve needed services.
Beneficiaries Faced Many Challenges Complying
Evidence from Arkansas, Michigan, and New Hampshire confirms earlier research on work requirements showing that red tape and paperwork requirements create serious hurdles for eligible beneficiaries, which then cause enrollment to decline. Examples include:
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Complex and confusing rules. Nearly half the population subject to Arkansas work requirement reported that they were unsure whether it applied to them, while another third said they had heard nothing about it, the Harvard researchers study found. In New Hampshire, many beneficiaries reportedly didnt know about the work requirement or received confusing and often contradictory notices about whether they were subject to it.
Some Arkansas beneficiaries apparently believed, incorrectly, they could maintain their coverage by reporting work hours just once, rather than every month. Also, some beneficiaries reported over 80 hours of job search each month, twice the number they are allowed to count toward the work requirement they likely thought they were complying as they diligently looked for work and reported their hours but were not actually complying with the rigid policy.
In a follow-up study conducted several months after the court halted the states work requirement, Harvard researchers found that even as of late 2019, knowledge of the states work requirement policy was still poor, with 70 percent of Arkansas residents unsure whether the policy was still in effect.
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Arkansas Receives Federal Approval For Changes To Arhome Medicaid Program That Buys Private Insurance For Low
The federal government Tuesday approved a request from Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s administration for a waiver to retool Arkansas’ version of Medicaid expansion.
The program, now called Arkansas Works, provides health care coverage to more than 300,000 low-income Arkansans — people between 19 and 64 who earn up to 138% of the federal poverty level, which is $17,774 for a single person and $36,570 for a family of four.
The retooled program will be called the Arkansas Health and Opportunity for Me program, or ARHOME, starting Jan. 1 and ending Dec. 31, 2026, under the waiver approved by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
“This comes at just the right time, so that 300,000 Arkansans can be confident of continued health care coverage as we go into the new year,” Hutchinson said Tuesday.
“It is good news for this time of the year,” the Republican governor said at his weekly news conference at the state Capitol.
Hutchinson said ARHOME will place greater emphasis on improving health outcomes of participants and that insurance carriers will be accountable for meeting health improvement targets.
Bo Ryall, president and CEO of the Arkansas Hospital Association, said in a statement, “We are pleased to see the new waiver approved by CMS and look forward to the continued health care coverage of those enrolled in the AR Home program.”
On March 1, 2020, before the covid-19 pandemic’s arrival in Arkansas, enrollment totaled 250,233.
ARHOME SPECIFICS
Work Requirements Endanger People With Disabilities
When the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services , in announcing the Administrations support for Medicaid work requirements, notified states that the policies must comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, we and others warned that protecting people with disabilities would prove impossible without extensive efforts. Indeed, Arkansas didnt adequately explain beneficiaries rights under the Act, and it lacked a comprehensive system for providing reasonable modifications to protect people with disabilities, such as modifying the hourly requirement or providing support to help people meet the reporting requirement. Due to the lack of protections and the design of the work requirement itself, individuals with disabilities lost coverage and may face serious harm as a result. In fact, people with disabilities were particularly vulnerable to losing coverage under the Arkansas work and reporting requirements, despite remaining eligible, a Kaiser Family Foundation study concluded.
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Unitedhealthcare Connected For Mycare Ohio
UnitedHealthcare Connected® for MyCare Ohio is a health plan that contracts with both Medicare and Ohio Medicaid to provide benefits of both programs to enrollees. If you have any problem reading or understanding this or any other UnitedHealthcare Connected® for MyCare Ohio information, please contact our Member Services at from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday for help at no cost to you.
Si tiene problemas para leer o comprender esta o cualquier otra documentación de UnitedHealthcare Connected® de MyCare Ohio , comuníquese con nuestro Departamento de Servicio al Cliente para obtener información adicional sin costo para usted al de lunes a viernes de 7 a.m. a 8 p.m. .
This is not a complete list. The benefit information is a brief summary, not a complete description of benefits. For more information contact the plan or read the Member Handbook. Limitations, copays, and restrictions may apply. For more information, call UnitedHealthcare Connected Member Services or read the UnitedHealthcare Connected Member Handbook. Benefits, List of Covered Drugs, pharmacy and provider networks and/or copayments may change from time to time throughout the year and on January 1 of each year.
