JONESBORO, Ark. (KAIT) – The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have verbally denied Arkansas’ request to renew the Arkansas Health and Opportunity for Me program, a hybrid Medicaid initiative that uses federal dollars to purchase private health insurance for low-income Arkansans.
The denial moves the program’s future out of federal hands and back to the state legislature.
Currently, the program serves roughly 200,000 Arkansans across the state who are aged 19 to 64 and are a specific threshold below the poverty line.
What is ARHOME?
ARHOME uses Medicaid dollars to buy private health insurance for low-income Arkansans. The program’s five-year waiver was first enacted in 2022 and is set to expire this year. CMS verbally denied the state’s renewal request.
Shane Speights, dean of the New York Institute of Technology’s College of Osteopathic Medicine at Arkansas State University, said the responsibility now falls on the state legislature to determine service changes and funding obligations.
“If we can’t move this program forward from the federal level, what do we do on the state side to ensure these individuals have some sort of coverage?” Speights said.
The Arkansas Department of Human Services is seeking to extend the current waiver until the state legislature reconvenes in January. In a statement, Gavin Lesnick, chief of communications for the Arkansas Department of Human Services said in a statement:
“We know from our ongoing dialogue with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that changes are in store for our Medicaid expansion program.
These changes will not be immediate, and no action is needed from beneficiaries at this time. It is important to note the changes will center on service delivery, not on eligibility.
We look forward to robust discussions with a wide range of partners as we develop the next evolution of this program in a way that is functional, practical, and sustainable. While it’s too early to know specifics of how this new approach will look, our commitment to connecting eligible Arkansans to effective health care will remain our guiding principle at the core of this work. We will provide frequent updates about the future of our program as these efforts progress.”
That extension request has not yet been approved.
Speights said if no extension is granted, the state will face an accelerated timeline.
“If that continues to be true, if we don’t see an extension on the waiver, then our state legislature is going to be tasked with figuring out on how to bridge that gap,” he said.
The Hospital, Medicaid, and Developmental Disabilities Subcommittee is scheduled to meet Aug. 17, when DHS will present a full report and walk lawmakers through options for a path forward.
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