Clinging tight to its rock-bottom ranking in maternal health and mortality, Arkansas earned an odious new superlative this week. <\/p>\n
With Wisconsin lawmakers\u2019 bipartisan 95-1 vote to extend Medicaid coverage to new mothers for a full year postpartum, Arkansas is now the only state in the Union that yeets vulnerable new moms off of subsidized health insurance and leaves them to fend for themselves.<\/p>\n
Wisconsin\u2019s laudable step forward for women\u2019s health came at the same time Arkansas moved demonstrably backward. Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families sends word that Medicaid coverage data for the fourth quarter of 2025 shows nearly half of new Arkansas mothers who\u2019d relied on Medicaid to pay for health care through their pregnancies lost that coverage within months of giving birth.<\/p>\n
\u201cNewly released postpartum Medicaid coverage data reveals a crisis unfolding in Arkansas: 44% of\u00a0postpartum mothers\u00a0lost\u00a0Medicaid\u00a0coverage in the fourth quarter of 2025\u2014the worst quarterly performance since tracking began,\u201d a release from Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families said. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s possible these new mothers who lost Medicaid were able to find affordable health insurance elsewhere, through a spouse, an employer, or with Obamacare, but we don\u2019t know for sure. From AACF\u2019s release:<\/p>\n
\nWe have been told that women may be able to enroll in other insurance options like the marketplace, but it is our understanding that DHS does not have access to data to\u00a0determine\u00a0that. With skyrocketing marketplace premiums, it will become increasingly difficult for women to take that route.\u00a0\u00a0And all of this happening mere weeks after giving birth makes it even more crucial to close this coverage gap by expanding postpartum coverage.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis data should alarm every Arkansan who cares about maternal health,\u201d said AACF Executive Director Keesa Smith-Brantley<\/strong>. \u201cWomen are losing coverage right when they\u2019re most vulnerable to life-threatening complications. We need action now.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Arkansas reliably ranks among the lowest of the low in the U.S. for maternal mortality. Horrifically, data has shown that a vast majority of these deaths are preventable with more access to care.<\/p>\n
So why is Arkansas the lone holdout still refusing to provide health care coverage to new mothers at an incredibly vulnerable, sleep-deprived, exhausted and fuzzy-thinking time in their lives? Mainly it\u2019s because Gov. Sarah Sanders<\/strong> doesn\u2019t want them to have it. <\/p>\n
The latest effort to extend Medicaid coverage to get new mothers cared for during this dicey time failed in the 2025 Arkansas legislative session<\/a>, under pressure from the governor\u2019s office not to pass it. The supermajority Republican Legislature went along with the governor\u2019s wishes, even though the bill to extend postpartum Medicaid was sponsored and championed by Republicans.<\/p>\n