Bureaucratic red tape keeping thousands of Arkansas children who qualify for ARKids First from enrolling or staying on the program is one step closer to being cut. Sen. Jeffress has introduced Senate Bill 65.

We’ll have more details on what this bill will do in our Friday weekly summary, but in the meantime, take a look at our recommended changes that the state can pursue to make ARKids First enrollment easier for Arkansas Families:

• Expand paperless renewal options:  Right now, families re-enroll their children in ARKids First by submitting a paper form; instead, we can use paperless or “administrative renewal” procedures to verify an enrolled child’s ongoing eligibility for ARKids First. This system would use administrative databases (such as income records in workforce services databases) to determine eligibility when families are renewing.  Louisiana made similar changes in its renewal system and has seen results from it. They now lose less than one percent of enrolled kids from paperwork-related renewal problems, compared with 49 percent of enrolled kids who are lost each year from paperwork problems in Arkansas.
• Offer 12-month continuous coverage for ARKids First A: Under ARKids First B, enrolled children currently keep coverage for a year, regardless of income changes during that year. This ensures that income fluctuations do not disrupt coverage. This same policy should also be applied to children covered under ARKids First A to keep their coverage consistent, too, and avoid the administrative costs of children moving in and out of the system. Twenty-two states offer 12-month continuous coverage for both Medicaid and CHIP programs.
• Start Express Lane enrollment: Case workers can use approved applications from other programs-such as free school lunch applications-to approve ARKids First enrollment, so families don’t have to submit the same information many times to apply for related programs.

For more information, see cutting the red tape in ARKids First  or AACF’s child health page.