Arkansas provides a point of entry into the upheaval happening in Medicaid rolls across the country in The New York Times today.
In the wake of the end of the federal public health emergency enacted during the height of the coronavirus, the federal government has given states a year to sort through their Medicaid rolls to determine eligibility, but in 2021 Arkansas legislators passed a law requiring DHS to complete the process in six months.
Surprise, surprise, after the first month of eligibility review, nearly 73,000 Arkansans lost Medicaid coverage, including nearly 27,000 children, mostly for paperwork issues.
From the Times story:
Among those who were dropped was Melissa Buford, a diabetic with high blood pressure who makes about $35,000 a year at a health clinic in eastern Arkansas helping families find affordable health insurance. Her two adult sons also lost their coverage.
Like more than 5,000 others in the state, Ms. Buford, 51, was no longer eligible for Medicaid because her income had gone up. A notice she received informing her that she did not qualify made her so upset that she threw it in a trash can.
…
Ms. Buford said that for some people in Arkansas, marketplace coverage would be too expensive.
“You have a car, mortgage, kids, food,” she said. “You really don’t have that much left to pay that much for health insurance.”
Ms. Buford said that her job helping others find health insurance in underserved areas was a calling inspired by watching her grandmother struggle to afford her medications and rely on food pantries. Ms. Buford went to a community college near her hometown so she could take care of her sick father, who passed away in his 40s. “I love my job because I’m able to help people,” she said.
Now that she has lost her Medicaid coverage, Ms. Buford said she hoped to find an affordable marketplace plan in the near future. The family plan offered by the clinic where she works is too costly, she said.
