HJAR May/Jun 2020

34 MAY / JUN 2020 I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF ARKANSAS POLICY COLUMN POLICY As COVID-19 began spreading across the United States, we saw that states had an advantage in fighting the new strain of coronavirus if they had reducedbarriers to health care by expanding their Medicaid programs under the Patient Protection andAffordable CareAct.We inArkansas can take pride in having adopted our unique version of Medicaid expansion years ahead of the pandemic. OF THE ACA