Earlier this month, Arkansas students and teachers returned to the classroom. Lunches were packed, backpacks filled, and buses rolled out for the start of a new school year. But behind the first-day photos and hallway reunions is something often overlooked: the critical role that Medicaid plays in helping children, educators, and families thrive between the bells and outside of school hours.
Medicaid, the single largest provider of health insurance for individuals and families across the nation, keeps students healthy and ready to learn. For more than 400,000 children in Arkansas, Medicaid ensures access to essential healthcare services including routine checkups and vaccinations and vision, dental, and behavioral health support that helps kids stay healthy and engaged at school. Healthy children make better learners. Medicaid is a vital support, especially for low-income families, to make sure that children’s education is not disrupted due to unmet health needs. When kids have regular checkups and access to doctors when they’re sick, they miss fewer days of school, stay enrolled, and can participate fully in academics and extracurriculars. While kids and families settle into new schedules this school year, Medicaid quietly supports the foundation of student success: good health.
How Does Medicaid Support Arkansas Families and Communities?
ARKids A & B Coverage
Medicaid coverage through ARKids First ensures that thousands of children in low- and moderate-income households receive preventive care and treatment. These benefits include vision and dental checkups, immunizations, and access to mental health care. All these benefits help children stay focused and engaged at school.
Early Childhood
Medicaid plays a crucial role in supporting the health and development of Arkansas’s youngest students. It helps fund early childhood screenings, developmental assessments, and services for children with special health care needs, ensuring they’re ready to succeed when they start school.
Educators
When kids are healthy, educators can focus on teaching rather than managing unmet health needs. Many early childhood educators also have access to health insurance through Medicaid, ensuring that those responsible for developing our youngest learners can stay healthy.
Schools
School districts also benefit directly from Medicaid reimbursements for services provided to students with disabilities. This support allows schools to offer broader care on campus, which is particularly important in rural communities that do not have hospitals nearby. Some schools in Arkansas have school-based health clinics that serve students and their families. These clinics rely on Medicaid dollars to keep their doors open.
Students with Disabilities
Medicaid is essential for students with disabilities who require specialized services to thrive in school settings. From speech therapy to occupational services, these supports allow students to participate fully in classroom learning.
College Students
Many young adults aging out of ARKids First coverage or living on their own for the first time still rely on Medicaid coverage for basic health needs. Health coverage is essential to ensuring that college students can stay enrolled and succeed.
Parents
When parents have access to care through Medicaid, they’re more likely to stay healthy, attend parent-teacher conferences, and support their kids in school. Parents also have greater peace of mind when their children are covered — knowing they can see a doctor when they’re sick and receive regular annual checkups.
Local Impact: Medicaid by School District
Visit this interactive tool from Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families to see how many students in your district are covered by Medicaid.
Don’t Let Cuts Disrupt Arkansas Classrooms
Medicaid is not just a health insurance program. It’s an investment in education, kids, families, and our broader communities. Our kids must be healthy to succeed at school, and Medicaid helps over 400,000 children in Arkansas to do just that. If we care about student success we must also care about this vital program that supports Arkansas students.
Let’s make this school year a healthy and successful one — for every student in Arkansas.