Arkansans advocate for better Medicaid services
LITTLE ROCK (KATV) — A group of Arkansans rallied at the Arkansas Department of Health Services on Monday to advocate for and deliver concerns regarding Medicaid.
"Not only are people being denied their benefits, even when they qualify, they're not receiving it," Diamond Arnold, an advocate and Medicaid recipient said. "I specifically know there are people who are having to decide between their healthcare or their food."
Al Allen shared that her brother went into a coma after being hit by a truck in 2021.
Allen said the process to enroll into Medicaid was difficult and that her brother was not getting the necessary services to he needed to recuperate.
"Whenever my brother came out of a trauma unit, he had to occupy a unit in the neurotrauma ICU in Springfield, MO for longer because Medicaid in Arkansas was not wanting to work with the Missouri care system." Allen said. "My brother's development was hindered by Medicaid's lack of accessibility."
Allen said her sibling could have healed quicker had it not been for the lagged time in the Medicaid process.
"The reason he is not standing with me today is because Medicaid is playing hot potato with responsibility for who is going to pay for his occupational and speech therapy," Allen said. "My brother's biggest dream right now is to be a normal 20 year old."
Cassandra Reed said both she and her son who has special needs use Medicaid.
"It's not even covering a lot of medicines that [my son] needs because he has asthma, high blood pressure and allergies," Reed said.
Reed said Medicaid doesn't provide assistance for people need to get healthy.
"What's the purpose of paying in for this and we can't use it to get the stuff that we need," Reed said. "It seems like we are not being heard, even though we go through the proper chain of command. It seems like no one wants to listen."
Arkansas Department of Human Services met advocates rallying outside their building and said they would review the concerns they presented.
