A new report from Georgetown’s Center for Children and Families highlights how Medicaid plays a key role in fighting the maternal health crisis. Arkansas has some of the highest maternal and infant death rates in the nation. Alarmingly, these rates have increased in recent years. The 2024 Arkansas Maternal Mortality Review Committee found that 95% of pregnancy-related deaths were preventable. This report comes at a time when Congress is considering massive funding cuts to Medicaid. These cuts would hurt hundreds of thousands of families and children in Arkansas. In their report, they found that: 

1. Medicaid helps mothers and babies get the care they need. 
2. Medicaid is a key player in combating the maternal health crisis. 
3. Medicaid supports healthy births by covering millions of women before, during and after pregnancy. 
4. States are using Medicaid to improve maternal and infant health. 
5. Medicaid supports infants born too soon or too small. 
6. Medicaid coverage of pregnant women and children coverage is linked to long-term health, educational and economic outcomes. 

Medicaid covers 41% of births in Arkansas. About half of the children in our state are insured through ARKids First (Arkansas’s Medicaid and CHIP program). Forty states that expanded Medicaid saw bigger drops in maternal and infant mortality. This effect was most powerful for the most vulnerable women and babies.  

Arkansas’s Medicaid program doesn’t only provide immediate benefits for mothers and babies. Tackling health issues early on matters during pregnancy and long after giving birth. Medicaid coverage is connected to better health and lower rates of disability over time. It’s also linked with higher educational attainment and improved financial status into adulthood. Families benefit over multiple generations from better health care access with Medicaid coverage. 

Medicaid is a great deal for Arkansas. About 2/3 of federal dollars coming into our state—almost $7 billion each year—go to our Medicaid program. Cuts to federal Medicaid funding would be devastating for Arkansas and make our maternal and infant health crisis even harder to solve. We need our Senate leadership to hear from Arkansans who want them to protect Medicaid and help us continue our work to improve the health of mothers and babies in our state.