Ramsey, a contributing editor at the Arkansas Times and the Oxford American, has written for The Paris Review, The New Republic, Kaiser Health News, Slate, Men's Journal, The National, Hemispheres, and elsewhere. Politico wrote that his “reporting for the Arkansas Times on his state’s unusual Medicaid expansion approach set the tone of a national conversation." He was named to the Washington Post's 2015 list of best state political reporters. His work has been anthologized in "Da Capo Best Music Writing," "Best Food Writing," "Cornbread Nation: The Best of Southern Food Writing" and the Norton Field Guide to Writing.
In June 2018, when Arkansas became the first state in the nation to implement work requirements for certain Medicaid beneficiaries, Governor Hutchinson was triumphant. “We’ve wanted to establish a work requirement … for a long time,” he said at the…
With Medicaid work requirements a nonstarter for the Biden administration, Arkansas officials are planning big changes to the Medicaid expansion program. But key details of the proposal remain vague.
Arkansas will not request a continuation of its controversial “work requirements” policy when it applies for federal approval to renew Arkansas Works, the state’s Medicaid expansion program, according to a spokesperson for the state Department of Human Services. But in…
“There was a couple of weeks when I was at work where the only time we had an ICU bed open up was when a patient would pass,” Dr. Teresa Bau said. “And then, it was instantly snatched up. That was a really grim week for me.”
Given the economic pain, Governor Hutchinson argued, tougher restrictions do not make sense because restaurants, bars, gyms and other types of businesses are not a significant source of spread. But the Arkansas Department of Health data that the governor is relying on appears to be too limited and incomplete to reach that conclusion.
The request — for five intensive care unit (ICU) beds and five general medical-surgical beds — was made Wednesday to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and announced Thursday by the governor at a press conference.
“We cannot possibly continue at the current rates of exponential growth in the community,” the doctor said. “It’s not sustainable. I believe we’re looking at 10 days of wiggle room before there is nowhere to go and we’re looking at those sorts of crazy scenarios where there’s patients lined up in the hallway.”
“His landlord began a campaign to terrorize him,” renter's attorney says.
At least 100 civil eviction complaints have been filed for nonpayment of rent in the state in the month of April, according to an analysis by an expert in housing law, a figure that represents a significant undercount in the total number of eviction actions because of limitations in tracking.
Faced with mounting criticism about the limited amount of COVID-19 testing in the state, Governor Hutchinson on Thursday afternoon announced plans for a “testing surge” across the state today and tomorrow.
Baxter Regional Medical Center has not yet had a confirmed case of COVID-19, but the Mountain Home hospital is nevertheless feeling the impacts of the pandemic.
The Arkansas Department of Human Services is bracing for the economic fallout of the COVID-19 crisis, as state officials anticipate that a rapidly increasing number of Arkansans will rely on the state’s social safety net programs in the coming months.
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