This week, the Arkansas Times was kind to publish an opinion piece we wrote regarding the history of Arkansas’s Medicaid expansion and the critical importance of our state’s Medicaid programs. Our state legislative session begins January 13th, and we anticipate renewed policy debates surrounding access to healthcare in Arkansas.
One in three Arkansans receives access to care through Medicaid or CHIP programming, and our Medicaid expansion serves about 10% of our state’s population. Care access and health outcome disparities in Arkansas are acutely racialized, they correlate with ruralism, and they disproportionately impact women and children.
50% of Arkansas counties do not have maternal health services. In 50% of our state’s geography, if you want (or require) perinatal or obstetric care, you have to go somewhere else. According to a recent March of Dimes report found here, Arkansas’s infant mortality rate is 35% higher than the national rate, and Arkansas’s maternal mortality rate is 65% higher than the national rate.
In March of 2024, Arkansas Governor Sanders signed the “Executive Order to Support Moms, Protect Babies, and Improve Maternal Health.” That kicked off a series of meetings that were held all over the state with subject matter experts, Cabinet-level participants, and health practitioners – all geared toward finding ways to improve maternal health in Arkansas.
The Arkansas Strategic Committee for Maternal Health published its full report and recommendations here. This legislative session, one of our priorities will be advocacy work that makes Arkansas a safer place to be a mother or baby. With our friends in the advocacy space, we’re working on advocacy initiatives that champion policy priorities listed in the strategic committee’s “Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies” report.
We are finding that Arkansas policymakers are interested in addressing our state’s worst-in-the-nation maternal and infant health outcomes – we’re eager to tell the stories of those most affected, lift up the voices of care providers and subject matter experts, and work to ensure equitable policy change and implementation statewide.
To follow along, sign up for email updates, or contribute to our work, please visit www.ARAppleseed.org. We’d love to have you in our corner.
