KUAR | By Mary Hennigan / Arkansas Advocate
From the Arkansas Advocate:
About 20% of children insured in Arkansas’ Medicaid program lost access during the state’s “unwinding” period, according to a report released Thursday from the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families.
“Arkansas did move very aggressively, and I think you can see that reflected in their losses,” said Joan Alker, executive director of the Georgetown organization.
In six months, the Arkansas Department of Human Services disenrolled 184,500 people from Medicaid; more than half, 94,000, were children.
The report, which analyzed every state’s performance during the unwinding as of December 2023, ranked Arkansas with the sixth highest percentage decline in Medicaid coverage for kids. Arkansas’ rate more than doubled the nationwide average of 10%.
1 in 5 Arkansas children lost Medicaid during ‘unwinding’ process, report finds
John Sykes/Arkansas Advocate
Jasmine James, third from left, talks about her experiences with Medicaid during an event held Friday in front of DHS offices in Little Rock. A group called Make Medicaid Better gathered in front of the Department of Human services offices in downtown Little Rock Friday morning to seek a response from the department about changes to Medicaid the group had suggested to DHS in an earlier meeting.