by Talk Business & Politics staff (staff2@talkbusiness.net)
Big factors affecting Arkansas’ Medicaid program loom in the near future and this legislative session will require clear health care and fiscal policy direction from Gov. Sarah Sanders and the new GOP supermajority at the state capitol.
Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View, the chair of the Senate Public Health Committee, discussed those ramifications in an appearance on this week’s Capitol View program.
For starters, the state’s health care system is fragile right now. Many hospitals, particularly in rural parts of the state, are in critical condition as pandemic funds are drying up, but personnel and supply costs remain extraordinarily costly. Federal Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates have remained unchanged for years, to the point that hospital administrators contend Congress has to approve higher rates in order to keep up with inflation and decades of increased costs or else they will have no choice but to close.
