Health care in Arkansas, a report from state representative Lindsley Smith

Interim Update‏
From: LINDSLEY SMITH (lindsleysmith@msn.com)
Sent: Mon 7/27/09 7:20 PM
To:
A health care package of more than 20 items – the most expansive such program in state history – will be funded by a combination of tobacco taxes and a 3-to-1 match in federal funds.
Last week’s column addressed the centerpiece of the package, the creation of a statewide trauma network that would upgrade hospitals across the state in order to get trauma victims to the best care possible as quickly as possible. This week, we’ll look at the other programs benefiting children, the working poor, and the elderly.
Lawmakers raised the state tax on a pack of cigarettes by 56 cents, and by a more complicated amount, on smokeless tobacco. State finance officials estimate the tax increase will generate $70 million a year.
For the first time ever, the state is providing money to community health centers. They previously had gotten only federal funding. Fifty-nine centers will receive a total of $15 million this fiscal year to help in the care they provided to more than 500,000 Arkansans, many of whom are employed but lack health insurance. Thousands of others have recently lost their jobs and will need basic health care.
Home-and community-based services of the Department of Human Services will receive $5 million to hike the pay of personal-care workers, many of whom make the minimum wage.
The ArKids First insurance program will be expanded, so that 20,000 more children of low-income families can receive coverage. Some 70,000 Arkansas children have no health insurance. The income eligibility limit has been raised to 250 percent of the federal poverty level for a family of four, or $55,125. That will cost about $3.8 million.
The state has long face a shortage of doctors, nurses and other medical providers – and a shortage of teachers at our medical school. Lawmakers this year approved $3 million in operating funds for a second branch of UAMS. The new branch is Fayetteville is already operating.
DHS also will receive $5 million for substance abuse treatment for children and pregnant women, serving about 3,000 people, including 2,200 children.
Public schools will receive $3 million for school nurses, and another $1.2 million will be available for immunizations in schools.
The ARHealthNet program, which was created in 2007 to help small businesses provide insurance to their employees, will receive $2 million.
Food banks in the state will receive a total of $1 million to help in their mission of providing food to a growing number of hungry Arkansans. Treatment of autism will receive $1.5 million.
The elderly will be able to receive much-needed dental care, through a $2.7 million grant to the Department of Human Services, and more free screenings for breast, cervical, lung and other cancers will be available through the department.
A healthier Arkansas leads to a wealthier Arkansas, not just in financial terms but in quality of life. These programs will be of benefit for decades to come.