LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Arkansas health advocates have launched a new project aiming to tell the stories of how the Medicaid system has supported residents along with community-informed recommendations to improve the public-health insurance program.

Visitors to the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families' website will be able to read, listen to and view the Medicaid stories along with policy solutions based on input from recipients.

Roderick, an Arkansas Medicaid beneficiary who was interviewed for the project, said Medicaid has had a positive impact on his life, as it increased the number of doctor visits he was permitted annually compared with his private insurance plan previously.

"I believe it is a good program," Roderick stated. "It has worked for me. It has allowed me to stay healthy and to make sure I can monitor my health. I'm 51 years old now, and health insurance and staying healthy is very important."

More than 900,000 Arkansans are covered by Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The project highlighted the stories of Arkansas' Marshallese community, who up until February of this year did not have access to Medicaid services if they were born in the Marshall Islands, despite being legal United States residents.

The state announced earlier this month it is creating a Medicaid Client Voice Council, to increase feedback from recipients about the program.

CaSandra Glover, health-policy fellow at Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, said she hopes to see storytelling participants apply to be a part of the council.

"One of the goals of our organization is going to be connecting some of these storytellers to apply to be a part of this council so that their voice can be heard," Glover explained. "We want to make sure that everyone within the Medicaid program is aware of these issues, but also that the community is able to advocate for themselves."

The project also focused on Medicaid stories from Hispanic and Latinx communities, along with Black communities in the central, Delta and southern areas of the state. Among the policy recommendations included on the website are increasing coverage for new mothers up to 12 months postpartum.

Washington state lawmakers are considering a measure to limit the growing cost of prescription drugs.

Senate Bill 5532 would establish a Prescription Drug Affordability Board, which would convene a panel of experts to cap the prices of medications. Four states, including Colorado and Maryland, already have boards.

Sen. Karen Keiser, D-Des Moines, who introduced the legislation, said when people cannot afford medication, they skip doses and or even try to get by without their prescriptions.

"We have data to show that people's health goes down," Keiser reported. "There's more death, there's more suffering, when prices go up, and prices have been going up relentlessly and, really, outrageously."

The legislation is scheduled for an executive session in the Senate Committee on Health and Long Term Care today.

Reid Porter, spokesperson for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, countered the bill will hurt pharmaceutical innovation. The organization is instead supporting Senate Bill 5888, which Porter said is a "patient-centered solution," utilizing rebates to bring down drug costs.

John Barnett is 91 years old and lives in Kirkland. A year ago, he went to the hospital for an irregular heartbeat, where they prescribed a drug he will need to take twice a day for the rest of his life. But he was shocked to find out the medication costs $6,000 a year.

"I would rather spend that $6,000 a year on something that's enjoyable or beneficial, something like that," Barnett acknowledged. "But if I want to stay alive and see my grandkids grow up, I guess I've got to continue to take that."

Seth Greiner, senior manager of advocacy in Washington and Oregon for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, noted MS is a chronic disease, which usually requires lifelong therapies.

He noted five of the most common disease-modifying therapies for MS are priced at more than $100,000 a year. Greiner added 40% of respondents to a 2019 survey they conducted said they had altered their use of treatments due to cost.

"We believe that both innovation and affordable access are critical to ensuring that people receive the medications and treatments they need, but these medications can only be accessed if people can afford them."

Wisconsin is a Midwestern island of marijuana prohibition. Most of its neighboring states have legalized the drug in some form.

It may soon change, as a coalition of Republican lawmakers introduced a bill which would legalize medical marijuana. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 36 other states, Washington, D.C. and three U.S. territories permit medical marijuana.

Sen. Mary Felzkowski, R-Irma, one of the bill's lead sponsors, said it is not a partisan issue.

"When you look at the map of states where medical marijuana is legal, you'll see conservative states like Florida and South Dakota, and more liberal states like California and New York offering a compassionate option for those that need relief," Felzkowski pointed out.

The policy would only allow medical marijuana in the form of a liquid, oil, topical, tincture or pill. A similar bill was introduced by Felzkowski during the last legislative session, but it stagnated and failed to pass. The latest version will likely also face long odds, as the Senate on Tuesday passed a measure increasing criminal penalties for extracting resin from cannabis.

Rep. Patrick Snyder, R-Schofield, outlined a tight administrative system for regulating and dispensing medical marijuana, which would be overseen by the Wisconsin Department of Revenue (DOR) and a Medical Marijuana Regulatory Commission.

"Wisconsin's private sector, under regulation from the commission and DOR, will provide the production, the processing, laboratory testing, transportation and dispensing," Snyder explained.

A 2019 poll from the Marquette University Law School found more than 80% of Wisconsinites supported legalizing medical marijuana, and nearly 60% supported complete legalization.

Gov. Tony Evers included a measure to legalize marijuana in his 2021-2023 biennial state budget, but it was stripped out by Republicans in the Legislature.

Support for this reporting was provided by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.

When the Pueblo Community Health Center opened its 14,000 square-foot facility in 2003, Pueblo's east side, home to mostly minority residents, had the highest level of unmet need for primary health care in the city.

Donald Moore, CEO of the Center, said its new 64,000 square-foot building, which opened this month, will increase the number of patients they can serve from 6,600 to 24,000.

"We're increasing the number of that target population that can be reached with primary care," Moore explained. "If someone has a regular and usual source of primary health care, the outcomes tend to be better, the costs to the community tend to be lower."

Moore pointed out the new building also will enable the center to expand staff from 54 to 162 at full capacity. The east Pueblo facility is one of 20 safety-net community health centers in Colorado, providing medical, dental and behavioral care to Coloradans regardless of their ability to pay. The majority of patients served are working families living at or below the federal poverty level.

Moore noted COVID underscored the need to upgrade ventilation, which will dramatically increase the turnover of air throughout the new facility. An air ionization system has also been installed to reduce the time viruses hang in the air.

Pueblo has committed to run on 100% clean-energy sources by 2035, and Moore added the new building's net-zero energy design will help bolster community health.

"Energy the building uses will be provided entirely by the building itself," Moore emphasized. "Through a solar panel system, geothermal underground well system, and state-of-the-art insulation and lighting controls."

Expanding access to primary care has been shown to dramatically improve health outcomes, but Moore stressed medicine is just one tool in the toolkit. In addition to identifying conditions and courses of treatment, the center helps empower patients to access resources everyone needs in order to live healthy lives.

"So we have navigators and case managers that help the patient access the nonmedical resources they need to be successful; access to healthy food, access to safe places to exercise," Moore concluded.