Arkansas has the 12th highest uninsured rate in the country at just over 9%. Its Hispanic population has the highest rate, with about 27% uninsured. Clinics across the state are working to target these individuals, as well as new moms losing pregnancy Medicaid coverage soon after giving birth. Ozarks at Large's Eva Mundo reports.
A recent quarterly report by the Arkansas Department of Human Services says that 45% of new moms lost Medicaid coverage after 60 days of giving birth, as reported by the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families. Nearly one in five moms reportedly dropped off coverage due to income limits.
Erin Allbaugh-Murders is the assistant director of research with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. She has been an OB since 2005 and says that in 20 years, the state of pregnancy Medicaid has not changed at all, but they are now facing threats of the situation worsening.
"We were really concerned about the Supreme Court ruling this summer, the birthright citizenship. We were very concerned about that, kind of holding our breath, waiting for that decision to come down. And we were very happy, as was everybody else, that they upheld that. Because if they had taken that away, where would that have left our moms?
"Right now in this environment, it's difficult because we don't really know what to expect. So we're trying to provide them with as many resources as we can, especially during this difficult climate."
The AACF also reports that only 145 of the 2,173 women who lost Medicaid coverage 60 days after giving birth had another source of insurance. That's about 94% that were documented as not having transitioned to another source of coverage.
Health issues like postpartum depression and gestational diabetes require ongoing attention after birth. Another data set from the UAMS Postpartum Call Center reported that one in five moms who called had urgent warning signs requiring medical attention. Almost one in 10 also reportedly had postpartum depression.
The AACF says that a year's worth of quarterly DHS reports show an urgent need to extend pregnancy Medicaid from 60 days to 12 months. As it stands, Arkansas is the only state in the U.S. that has yet to make this extension.
Allbaugh-Murders says one of the biggest focuses is helping women space out pregnancies by at least 18 months. This helps to prioritize getting their health back to where it should be before adding another pregnancy to it, which includes services like providing mothers with contraception.
Several clinics in the state are working to help these uninsured women. Among them is 12th Street Health and Wellness Center, a free clinic run by UAMS students. Allbaugh-Murders says that with a grant totaling $375,000 over three years, they were able to provide the clinic with contraception for women to access. The health center offers IUDs, Nexplanon devices, condoms, patches and pills, but their work does not end at providing these services.
"I just did a mixed-methods study where I interviewed moms after they delivered that had IUDs placed, and one thing that was recommended by the mothers, and then I kind of questioned other mothers about it, was having like a web-based version of birth control education, so to go through all the different types of birth control, the side effects, efficacy, all that good stuff. And they could read that before they saw a physician, so they'd be a little bit more educated on what there is, what options are available to them."
Allbaugh-Murders also says they are working to change Medicaid policy. She is currently gathering information through a cost-benefit analysis to evaluate how much it is costing the government not to make this expansion.
"What we're trying to do right now is to say there's a need. So when I have these free devices that I'm going to be giving to postpartum moms at UAMS, we show that there's a need, that this many Hispanic patients wanted this, that this many Hispanic patients got these devices. So we can take it and say, look, if we make this available to them, there are people that want this and that it is needed.
"And then we can turn around and say, this prevented so many unwanted pregnancies or prevented so many rapid repeat pregnancies. And that, with that data, seems maybe can move the needle forward a little bit with the legislature. So I'm trying right now to make a really strong case to where they can't tell me no."
Lakyn Webb was the director of research on the 12th Street Clinic student board last academic year. She is now working closely with the clinic on a research project. She says that the center has been operating for over 10 years, aiming to prevent and improve chronic health conditions, promote health literacy and respect among different cultures, as well as facilitating practice for medical students.
"They do a specific women's health night, and that's about once a month right now. And so they are providing contraceptive, and then they're doing pap smears, STD screenings and those sorts of things. And there's no cost."
Another service they provide is the MammoVan, which travels across the state to offer quick and free mammogram screening services to eliminate barriers like time, travel and finances. Exam results are mailed to each patient as well as their primary care physician, and if there are any abnormalities present, the patient is referred to whatever follow-up services are deemed necessary.
On top of improving women's health, the clinic also provides services targeting other specific demographics.
"And then they've got the night where they have the interpreters on hand for Spanish-speaking individuals, and then they do pop-up clinics and they try to go out into the community at like Spanish-speaking churches to try to reach people where they are. And then they did have specific LGBTQ nights. And so they've got a bunch of different nights that they try to do specific things to reach certain needs in the community."
UAMS also has vans that operate as a mobile women's health clinic and are located across the state to reach communities in every corner of Arkansas. They offer services like prenatal care, annual health checkups, pap smears, contraceptives, STI or minor gynecological treatment, and health education. Each clinic has a physician or an advanced practice registered nurse and a nurse. They also have community health workers to help with translation, questions about insurance and connections to local resources beyond the clinic.
Click here for more UAMS services targeting uninsured or underinsured patients.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline and edited for length and clarity. Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
