Arkansas DHS outlines Medicaid wind-down plans as federal public health emergency continues

Mark White, deputy with the Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS), told the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee that the state is still operating under a federally declared public health emergency (PHE) and that federal limits tied to enhanced Medicaid match payments prevent routine disenrollment during the PHE. "Essentially if they are on the Medicaid program as long as this public health emergency extends they have to be left on the [program] even if we think they may have come ineligible unless they die or move out of state," White said.

Why it matters: the enhanced Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) reduces the state's share of Medicaid costs while the PHE is in effect, but DHS officials said the enhanced match is conditioned on states maintaining beneficiary eligibility during the emergency. DHS told lawmakers the enhanced match is paid through the quarter in which…