Arkansas governor nearing decision on Medicaid cancellations

“From this point on, there will be absolutely no termination notices that go out, one, without that time frame that’s built in, and secondly, (without) assurance that all the information in the county (DHS) offices is processed”, he said. Hutchinson said in the letter and in the press conference that the 10-day window was a standard that had been set by previous administrations and that a significant percentage of respondents will not respond even if given more time.

The Human Services Department has traditionally given recipients 10 days to respond to requests for such information, he said. Those two companies cover a large majority of private option recipients. He said lengthening the window would increase the amount of time ineligible people are participating in the program, potentially increasing its costs by millions of dollars. QualChoice has not, he said.

DHS spokeswoman Amy Webb said that as of Monday, the agency had reinstated coverage for 2,077 people, reducing the number of terminations to date from 48,987 to 46,910.

DHS is seeking to verify the eligibility of about 600,000 Arkansans.

According to a report by The Stephen Group of Manchester, N.H., at least 4,186 of the almost 49,000 Arkansans who have received cancellation notices are covered by the traditional Medicaid program, including 3,681 children covered by ARKids First.

DHS says more than 2,000 people have been reinstated after being kicked off the private option or Medicaid last month. He also lifted a hiring freeze so the Department of Human Services could hire additional workers, and authorized overtime pay to help with processing. Another 13,000 have been sent notices that their coverage will end later this month.

Arkansas became the fourth state to cut funds to Planned Parenthood when Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson canceled the state’s Medicaid contract with the organization on Friday, August 14, following the leaked videos of Planned Parenthood executives speaking of the selling of aborted fetal tissue.

Hutchinson suspended the termination notices because of a backlog in processing responses. Staff has been added and reassigned, while the envelope sent to beneficiaries now includes a DHS logo with the words, “Important information about your benefits!” written in red ink in all caps.