Charity Care & Children (Editorial)

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As Arkansas Business’ Mark Friedman reported last week, uncompensated care at Arkansas hospitals rose 14.9% in the fiscal year that ended June 30, and the situation is only expected to worsen. Uncompensated care encompasses charity care for those who can’t pay and bad debt from patients who didn’t pay.

The situation at Arkansas Children’s of Little Rock was particularly striking. The hospital estimated the cost of caring for charity patients rose 71% to $31.6 million for its fiscal year that ended June 30.

Marcy Doderer, Arkansas Children’s president and CEO, noted that more than half of the 700,000 Arkansans under the age of 18 — children, in other words — rely on government-funded health insurance. “As federal or state rules tighten up the ability to qualify for Medicaid benefits for your insurance product, it makes it harder for children to maintain that benefit coverage,” she said.

Meanwhile, Arkansas ranks 47th in the nation in terms of child health, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

With the Arkansas Legislature scheduled to begin its fiscal session April 8, we urge lawmakers to ensure there aren’t unnecessary barriers to health coverage for the state’s poor, particularly children, who rightly qualify.