Over 13,000 Jonesboro residents lost coverage

Delta Digital News Service

Wednesday, May 1, 2024

By Brayden Morse | Contributor

JONESBORO, Ark. – Since Medicaid began unwinding in a year ago, 13,147 Jonesboro residents lost coverage, including 4,693 children.

After a long hiatus of no doctor’s visits, families might take their children to get their once-a-year wellness check or physical and realize they are no longer covered. Families might not understand how they are no longer covered and may not understand how the unwinding process began.

Anna Strong, executive director of the Arkansas Chapter American Academy of Pediatrics, explains what factors led to the unwinding.

“During the COVID-19 public health emergency, state Medicaid agencies received enhanced federal funding to keep people from losing their coverage during the pandemic. After the public health emergency ended, states had to re-evaluate the eligibility for everyone on the Medicaid roster. Because individuals may have moved, changed phone numbers, divorced, married, had children, or otherwise changed their circumstances, they may have missed efforts to reach them to update information and renew their eligibility. After a period of time, Medicaid had to remove them from the program if they had not received updated information,” Strong said.

Families and children have been impacted in many ways. According to the Arkansas Department of Health, nearly 1 in 3 children ages 3-17 have reported one or more mental, emotional, developmental or behavioral health problems. Identifying and treating these issues such as depression, anxiety, and addiction requires specialist treatment.

Healthy children are more likely to attend school regularly and more likely to reach the cognitive, social and emotional milestones needed to ensure success in the classroom and beyond.

Jonesboro pediatrician at The Children’s Clinic, Dr. Jane Sneed, details some challenges she has seen people face.

“Raising kids is difficult enough, but thinking you have medical coverage and then finding out that you don’t is a major stressor for families. Insurance is really important for those unpredictable moments. You never know when you’ll break an arm, step on a piece of glass and need stitches, or something worse that you never saw coming,” Sneed said.

Sneed also explained how people and the profession have been impacted.

“We have done a lot of legwork since the unwinding began, sending text messages, making calls sending portal reminders to people who were going to be affected. We wanted to make sure our patients were able to re-enroll as quickly as possible in Medicaid or find another option. Still, we lost about 30 percent of our Medicaid patients. That’s certainly affected our clinic, but you really worry about the patients,” Sneed said.

Fortunately, Arkansans can still find affordable options for healthcare coverage. Applications for Arkansas Medicaid, ARHOME, and ARKids First are accepted year-round, and those impacted by coverage losses when their Medicaid eligibility is ending has an extended open enrollment period through the My Arkansas Insurance marketplace.

The Arkansas Chapter American Academy of Pediatrics made a few notes on why families need insurance coverage. Medical debt is the No. 1 cause of bankruptcy in the U.S., which causes lots of financial stress for families. Families may find it difficult to maintain their standard of living and their savings due to the rapidly rising cost of medical coverage.

When parents know their children are covered by medical insurance, it reduces stress and anxiety about medical bills and unplanned medical emergencies. Coverage lets parents focus on their child’s health and well-being instead of constantly worrying about the finances. In the long run, having health insurance translates to a healthier, more fulfilling life. Re-enrollment enables parents to guarantee that their kids get the healthcare they require, resulting in happier, more cohesive families and communities.

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NOTE: Feature photo by Markus Frieauff on Unsplash