A new report by the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families found the number of uninsured children (under 18) in Arkansas declined by 31 percent between 2008 and 2013. During this five year period over 17,000 children gained health coverage. According to the report, Arkansas’s success in expanding coverage for children is due primarily to ARKids First.

See the full report here.

We still have a little further to go. In 2013, over 39,250 children were uninsured in Arkansas, which largely impacts certain populations. The report shows:

• Hispanic children are more likely to be uninsured. Nine out of 10 Hispanic children in the state are uninsured.
• Uninsured rates are higher in rural counties. Over 43 percent of uninsured children in Arkansas live in rural communities.
• Uninsured migrant children that are lawfully present have a five-year waiting period to enroll in ARKids First, and Marshallese children have no access to coverage altogether. The Immigrant Child Health Improvement Act (ICHIA) would allow Arkansas to address these barriers, like sixteen other states currently pursuing this option.

Since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, Arkansas has made even more progress in reducing the number of uninsured children. As parents enrolled in Private Option and Marketplace plans, 25,000 children were enrolled in health coverage mid-way through 2014 because of the “welcome mat” effect, further evidence that covering parents reduces the number of uninsured children.

The Georgetown report also highlights the importance of extending funding for the federal Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). CHIP will run out next year if Congress does not pass legislation to extend funding, before it expires. We rely on federal CHIP dollars to support ARKids First; preliminary estimates indicate Arkansas could lose up to $37 million in 2016, if CHIP funding isn’t extended.

Arkansas’s commitment to making sure children have access to health care coverage has yielded impressive results. It’s important that we build on this momentum and continue to protect ARKids First and remove coverage barriers for children that are still uninsured.