Gov. Asa Hutchinson Announces ARHOME Program and Cybersecurity Council
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson outlined the makeover of Arkansas’ Medicaid expansion program during a press conference Tuesday afternoon.
The proposal, introduced by the Arkansas Legislature earlier this year, seeks to replace the current Medicaid expansion program, known as Arkansas Works. The new program, if approved, would be called Arkansas Health and Opportunity for Me, or ARHOME (pronounced “our home.”) ARHOME would extend subsidized health insurance to the more than 310,000 low-income Arkansans currently enrolled in health plans through Arkansas Works.
Like many states, Arkansas chose to develop its own private option to provide health insurance to low income residents after the implementation of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. The private option developed into Arkansas Works and now, with approval of President Joe Biden, would next year transform into ARHOME.
Hutchinson said ARHOME’s biggest change would be the focus it puts on improving Arkansas’ health outcomes, as opposed to solely treating them. As part of that effort ARHOME would put pressure on health insurance companies to offer preventative healthcare and incentives for wellness plans while also offering goals towards improving health in rural areas.
Contrary to Arkansas Works, ARHOME does not include the work requirements which proved extremely contentious. Instead, the new proposal seeks to replace those requirements with work and educational training.
In other statewide news, Hutchinson announced the formation of a cybersecurity advisory council made up of various state officials. He said the council is a response to the Colonial pipeline cyberattack as well as a more recent attack targeting JBS Foods. That particular attack shut down most of the companies operations across the state, including the poultry processing facility in De Queen.
Finally, state officials provided an update on Arkansas’ COVID-19 figures. Just over 300 new cases were reported on Tuesday for a statewide total of over 344,000 transmissions since the COVID-19 pandemic began in spring, 2020. Active cases saw a net increase of 109 to 2,144 currently reported. Deaths increased by six over the same period to total 5,869. Currently 204 Arkansans are hospitalized due to the virus.
At this time over two million COVID-19 vaccines have been given in the state with nearly one million Arkansans now fully vaccinated.
