Healthcare coverage for more than 200,000 of our neighbors is on the line right now, and the clock is ticking. The federal government declined to renew the waiver that allows Arkansas to run its Medicaid expansion program, ARHOME. Without a new agreement in place before the end of 2026, those 200,000 people — working adults, parents, folks between jobs — lose their coverage. That's not a distant problem. It's happening this year.
These are people who go to the same grocery stores and churches we do. When they lose coverage, they skip checkups, they end up in emergency rooms, and hospitals — especially rural ones — eat those costs. That gets passed along to the rest of us. And the jobs that depend on a functioning healthcare system don't just pause while we wait for Washington to sort this out. They disappear. Arkansas asked for a two-year temporary extension to buy time for a long-term solution. That request is still pending. Our state legislators need to be pushing hard, publicly and loudly, to make sure Arkansas gets that extension and that a real path forward is on the table before these families are left without options.
I'm asking you to publicly call for protecting ARHOME coverage and to support whatever state-level action is needed to keep these 200,000 Arkansans covered while a federal solution is worked out. Don't let coverage expire on a technicality while families pay the price.
