Arkansas Department of Human Services officials told a legislative committee Monday that about 60% of postpartum Arkansans who were eligible for Medicaid between July 1 and September 30 received some form of treatment 60 days after giving birth. He continued to enroll in Medicaid.
Most of the remaining 40% are not eligible for Medicaid by 60 days after giving birth, Secretary Christy Putnam and state Medicaid Director Janet Mann told the Joint Committee on Public Health, Human Services, and Labor. This was determined by DHS.
More than half of births in Arkansas are covered by Medicaid, the federal-state health insurance program for low-income Americans. Medicaid covers pregnant Arkansans with incomes up to 209% of the federal poverty level, but this coverage expires after two months of birth.
Act 161 of 2024 would require Arkansas Medicaid officials within DHS to “redetermine the eligibility of postpartum mothers to receive coverage in any Medicaid eligibility category within 8 weeks after giving birth” and to 8 weeks after giving birth to mothers who are still eligible for Medicaid. It requires registration in a different category by a weekly deadline. . This mandate is part of the FY2025 DHS Health Services Division appropriations bill, which Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed at the end of the fiscal year in May.
The law went into effect July 1, and Monday’s report by Mr. Putnam and Mr. Mann was the first quarterly report required by Congress. Putnam and Mann had planned to submit their report to the Arkansas Legislative Council on Oct. 18, as required by law, but the report was not ready at that time, they said.
During the third quarter, 4,234 Arkansans received prenatal and immediate postnatal Medicaid, Mann said Monday. Among them:
1,711 remained in the same eligibility category 60 days postpartum 901 were in a different eligibility category 60 days postpartum 1,451 were not eligible for insurance 60 days postpartum DHS found sufficient eligibility for the remaining 171 Could not find information.
Arkansas is the only state that has not taken any steps to adopt the federal option to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage from 60 days to 12 months of age. Putnam and Sanders said the expansion would be “redundant” and “duplicative” because the state has other coverage options for low-income postpartum Arkansans.
According to the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement, Arkansas has the highest maternal mortality rate in the nation and the third highest infant mortality rate. There are only 34 hospitals in Arkansas with labor and delivery departments, and some of the state’s 75 counties have no hospitals at all.
Five maternity wards in Newport have closed since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
In March, Sanders issued an executive order creating a strategic committee of state officials to develop a plan to improve the state’s maternal health infrastructure and outcomes. Mr. Putnam and Mr. Mann are both members of the seven-member committee.
The commission’s six-month progress report released in September included a wide range of recommendations, including considering increasing Medicaid reimbursement for existing providers and implementing presumptive Medicaid eligibility for pregnant Arkansans. was included.
Presumptive eligibility assumes 60 days of Medicaid eligibility and speeds up the insurance application process. For the policy to take effect, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) must approve Arkansas’ waiver.
Rep. Aaron Pilkington (R-Knoxville) sponsored a 2023 bill that would implement both presumptive eligibility and 12-month postpartum Medicaid coverage. Neither bill was able to move forward due to cost concerns, but Ms Pilkington said she hoped to draft further maternal health legislation for the 2025 parliament.
Rep. Aaron Pilkington, R-Knoxville
Pilkington is a sponsor of Act 161 and a member of the Public Health Committee. He said Monday that he was “deeply disappointed” that he did not receive the required DHS postpartum Medicaid data on Oct. 18, or in the form of a more detailed report.
“We’re going to change this, so we need to actually measure it, because I think there have been many times in this discussion where we’ve been looking around in the dark without a flashlight. ,” Pilkington said.
Putnam said it was difficult to compile the data for the committee, which took less than a month, but DHS’ goal is to have the right data. Staff hopes to be able to automate reporting rather than manually collecting data after multiple reports, she added.
Mann said DHS and the Arkansas Department of Insurance (AID) are reaching out to 1,451 people who were not eligible for Medicaid within 60 days of giving birth to determine eligibility for coverage on the private market. said.
“There are some marketing and direct contacts that are prohibited by insurance law, so we are working with one of AID’s partners to look at ways to contact them,” Mann said.
Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View
Sen. Missy Irvin (R-Mountain View), co-chair of the committee, said she wanted to know the ages of the Arkansans at DHS who were excluded from the report. Irvin and Mann agreed that pregnant teenagers could be eligible for Arkansas’ child Medicaid program.
According to the Arkansas Child and Family Advocate, the teen pregnancy rate in Arkansas in 2022 will be nearly double the national rate, and the majority of teen pregnancies are due to a lack of proper sex education and reliable contraceptive methods. It was said that it was unplanned.
A September report said the strategic committee drafted a request for proposals for an advertising campaign to promote maternal and child health and reduce the state’s teen pregnancy rate.
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