medicaid
Arkansas Legislature saw wide range of maternal and reproductive health legislation in 2023
Prenatal and postpartum healthcare policies rose on Arkansas’ priority list after abortion became illegal in the state, but did not rise high enough, according to advocates for the well-being of pregnant and newborn Arkansans. Rep. Aaron Pilkington, R-Knoxville, introduced several bills to bolster this area of healthcare during the 2023 legislative session. Some made it […]
DACA recipients to gain health coverage under new plan from Biden administration
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden announced Thursday that he will direct his administration to allow undocumented people in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program to enroll in Medicaid or private insurance provided under the Affordable Care Act. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will issue a proposed rule on the policy by […]
Alabama looks to Arkansas’ version of Medicaid expansion as a possible template
As Alabama lawmakers appear to warm up to the idea of Medicaid expansion, Arkansas has emerged as a potential model for the program. The Alabama Hospital Association has previously stated they are working on an “Alabama-specific” model that draws from the best of other states, with Arkansas as a major source. Arkansas expanded Medicaid in […]
Postpartum Medicaid expansion is the first step to maternal health equity, experts say
Arkansas has the highest maternal mortality rate in the United States: 43.5 deaths from 2018 to 2021 for every 100,000 live births, according to the latest federal data. But the state only extends postpartum Medicaid to 60 days after childbirth. A bill by Rep. Aaron Pilkington, R-Knoxville, aims to change that and would seek to […]
Idaho bans nearly all abortions — and just declined to expand postpartum Medicaid coverage
Without coverage from Idaho’s Medicaid program, Moscow resident Erin Singer is convinced she would have felt forced to seek an abortion when she got pregnant with her son in 2017. And without coverage from Medicaid after she gave birth, Singer wouldn’t have been able to afford the physical therapy required to treat the debilitating pelvic […]
Arkansas Medicaid recipients seek DHS response to feedback, more time to confirm eligibility
Medicaid recipients who are concerned about losing coverage soon did not let Friday’s pouring rain stop them from gathering in front of the Department of Human Services’ headquarters in downtown Little Rock. Three attendees carried umbrellas with the message “Don’t leave us waiting in the rain” painted on them. The small crowd chanted “What do […]
Rural hospitals gird for unwinding of pandemic Medicaid coverage
Donald Lloyd, CEO and president of St. Claire HealthCare in Morehead, Kentucky, has spent more than a year dealing with higher costs for food and medical supplies for his regional hospital. Now he’s trying to prepare for another financial hit — the loss of Medicaid reimbursements for treating people in rural Appalachia. “We are all […]
Sanders: Arkansas will seek federal OK for new Medicaid work requirement
This story was updated at 10:40 a.m. on Feb. 16, 2023. Arkansas is seeking a waiver from the federal government in order to require adult Medicaid recipients to work, volunteer, go to school or receive workforce training in order to receive certain health care coverage, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Human Services Secretary Kristi Putnam […]
Rural Arkansas hospitals could get more funding for reducing inpatient services under proposed law
An Arkansas Senate committee on Wednesday approved a proposal that could bolster federal funding for rural hospitals as an incentive to specialize in emergency and outpatient care. The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) subsidizes critical access hospitals — located no less than 35 miles from other hospitals and maintaining no more than […]
Arkansas Medicaid recipients petition DHS for better care, accessibility
Al Allen’s younger brother faced more than physical struggles after narrowly surviving being hit by a car on the interstate, she said. Allen’s brother was 18 and uninsured at the time of the accident, and he received treatment at the nearest neurotrauma care center in Springfield, Missouri. Almost two years later, he is able to […]
Fifty years later, our lives still at risk
Fifty years ago, a very different U.S. Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade. Radical right-wing extremists control the Supreme Court and serve in elective office. We have fewer freedoms than we did a generation ago. We suffer, and women die because of it. When the Supreme Court ruled last June to strip away our rights […]
U.S. House GOP plan calls for federal spending cuts, conditions on debt limit increase
WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republican leaders during a closed-door meeting Tuesday shared more details of the secret agreements Speaker Kevin McCarthy made with conservative lawmakers last week to secure the votes he needed to hold the gavel. The so-called handshake deal, displayed on slides during the GOP weekly conference meeting, if adhered to could have […]