HHS Department warns Arkansas among states with coverage losing Medicaid, CHIP coverage
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A letter sent from federal officials Monday warns that Arkansas is among the states with the highest percentage of children losing government health insurance benefits.
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra sent the letter to Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, noting that the state is among nine seeing the largest declines in enrollment of children for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
Read the letter from HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra to Arkansas Gov. Sarah Sanders
HHS officials say the declines started after full eligibility requirements for these programs were renewed this spring following the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency.
Monday’s letter was sent as part of a larger effort by the federal agency to call on the states to make changes in enrollment plans and implement strategies to expand federal coverage for children.
Sanders, in a post to social media, countered the claims made in the letter, framing the messages as a “politically motivated PR stunt” by the “failing Biden admin.” She also said that accusations that Arkansas is restricting Medicaid access for children were false.
“During the unwinding process mandated by federal law, the Biden admin sent letters to certain states to pause their unwinding, but Arkansas was never one of them,” Sanders wrote. “Arkansas is in compliance with state and federal law, while Biden plays politics at Christmas.”
The topic of disenrollment has led to much debate over the last nine months in Arkansas. The state saw 427,459 people come off Medicaid rolls from April through September. Officials with the Arkansas Department of Human Services said 298,257 patients were renewed during the same period.
Arkansas completes Medicaid unwinding with more than 400,000 disenrolled in last six months
When the six-month unwinding process wrapped, DHS Secretary Kristi Putnam said she was proud of her staff’s work for completing the task on schedule.
“Medicaid resources should go to Arkansans who qualify for them, and not for those who are ineligible,” Putnam said in October. “I’m proud of the work that staff across our entire agency performed over the last six months to ensure that our program is serving only those who truly need Medicaid.”
Group gathers to speak out about Medicaid coverage in Arkansas
The Monday letter is not the first from the HHS to Arkansas regarding disenrollment. In August, the federal agency noted issues with call center wait times and delays in application processing.
In addition to Arkansas, Becerra sent letters to Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Montana, New Hampshire, Ohio, South Dakota and Texas. The HHS claims that the nine states the letter was sent to account for around 60% of the disenrollments from children’s Medicaid and CHIP from March through September of this year.
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