by Steve Brawner (BRAWNERSTEVE@MAC.COM)
While the COVID-19 pandemic is considered by the federal government to be over, its effects on the health care system remain. In many ways, the state of the state’s health care might best be described as “unwinding.”
That’s especially the case with Medicaid, where “unwinding” is the word often used to describe what is happening. Throughout the pandemic, states halted their typical redetermination process because the federal government provided them extra money if didn’t cut their rolls. As a result, Arkansas’ Medicaid population increased by 230,000.
That changed in April, the month that states could resume redeterminations. Under state law, Arkansas has six months to complete its process.
