by Talk Business & Politics staff (staff2@talkbusiness.net)
The Arkansas Department of Human Services said it disenrolled 43,385 Medicaid beneficiaries whose coverage had been extended because of the COVID public health emergency in the month of May, the second month Arkansas could do so under federal rules.
Another 24,453 cases were closed as part of DHS’s normal operations, bringing the total closures for the month to 68,838. Among the cases due in May, coverage was renewed for 39,848 beneficiaries.
Arkansas stopped disenrolling most Medicaid beneficiaries after former President Donald Trump on March 18, 2020, signed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. It increased federal Medicaid matching funds for states that kept all individual cases active during the public health emergency. The state’s Medicaid rolls rose by 230,000 total during the pandemic.
