Arkansas Health Insurance Roundtable (October 2000 – April 2007)

History

In October 2000, the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement (ACHI) formed the Arkansas Health Insurance Expansion Initiative Roundtable to address the state’s growing crisis in health insurance coverage. 

The twenty-one member coalition was made up of health care purchasers and providers, consumers and insurers.  The Roundtable met several times a year and was a participant-driven, independent platform for sharing ideas and formulating solution-oriented policies to advance health care financing options for Arkansans.  The Roundtable’s recommendations have led to significant policy changes that advance health care coverage.

Mission

Expand health insurance coverage among uninsured Arkansans and promote stability in the health insurance marketplace.

Goals

• Understand issues facing households and employers

• Recommend a five-year to ten-year strategic plan for stabilizing and expanding health insurance coverage in Arkansas

Noteworthy Accomplishments

• Diverse group of stakeholders from across Arkansas -“Not the usual players”

• Oversaw the first state-based survey of health insurance status in Arkansas (2000 / 2004)
• Reported findings to Governor and USDHHS Secretary (2000 / 2001)
• Recommendations to stabilize / expand coverage, based on two ACHI studies of quantitative and qualitative data detailing the health insurance status of Arkansans and use of a real-time data analysis tool developed by ACHI that incorporated multiple national datasets into one database.
  • Increase ARKids enrollment and expand income eligibility for pregnant women.
  • Establish health insurance purchasing groups.
  • Include evidence-based preventive services in benefit plans.
  • Promote employer benefit report cards and educate employees about the true costs of health insurance benefits.
• Supported establishment of the Joint Interim Committee on Health Insurance and Prescription Drugs.
• Supported and promoted the Arkansas Safety Net Benefit Program - ARHealthNetwork.
• Served as a trusted platform to discuss and advance initiatives to address health insurance and health care issues in Arkansas and the U.S.