With all the excitement about health reform and the success of ARKids First in our state, it's sometimes easy to assume we've got coverage for kids accomplished. But our new report makes it clear we are nowhere near checking that box. While the promise of health reform is certainly exciting, we can make children winners TODAY by taking steps to cover all kids and incorporate our lessons learned into our work to extend coverage to thousands of Arkansas adults in 2014 once health reform is fully implemented.

Two-thirds of our state's uninsured children-43,000 of a total of 65,000 uninsured kids-are eligible TODAY for ARKids First.

In 2009, more than 20,000 children were dropped from ARKids First because of paperwork or procedural barriers - not necessarily because their eligibility changed. Why are children dropped? Almost half are due to paperwork or trouble locating a family.

Also, remember that ARKids First expansion that was passed in 2009, which would make 9,000 more children between 200-250% eligible? We're still waiting for implementation as state officials struggle with budget concerns and finalize terms with the federal government. Meanwhile, the number of uninsured children in this income level continues to increase as families struggle to ensure their children's coverage through increased health costs, dropped coverage, or job losses.

So how best to give families peace of mind for their children and ease the strain on their pocketbooks?

Extend ARKids First to thousands more children by implementing the planned expansion.
Remove red tape to enroll children who already qualify but aren't signed up- especially making the re-enrolment process more user-friendly so kids don't drop off unless their eligibility has truly changed.

For more information, see Crossing the Finish Line 2010: Moving Toward Covering All Kids

P.S. Of course, once kids get covered, we still need to connect them to care. More on access to come in a future post... stay tuned.