Enrollment down in expanded Medicaid plan

LITTLE ROCK — The number of people enrolled in Arkansas’ expanded Medicaid program was down by 8,000 in June, likely because of efforts to end coverage for people who are no longer eligible for services.

The Department of Human Services told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that the average cost for services during the month fell to $502.52 per person — down $24.

Agency spokeswoman Brandi Hinkle says DHS is continuing efforts to end coverage for ineligible participants, and a spokesman for Gov. Asa Hutchinson said the trend was good news.

The Arkansas Works program uses federal dollars to purchase insurance for lower-income Arkansans.

Hutchinson has expressed

concerns about the cost and wants further cuts.

Data breach has state seeking new vendor

LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas is seeking someone else to provide database services after a breach during the spring impacted 600,000 of the state’s residents.

America’s Job Link Alliance-TS has held a contract with the state since 2007. In March, it told the Department of Workforce Services that records of at least 19,000 state job applicants had been compromised, but what was taken wasn’t immediately known.

Agency spokesman Steven Guntharp says Workforce Services now knows that 598,533 Arkansans were impacted, though no one has complained of identity theft.

Guntharp told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette the agency is seeking a new vendor.

Investigation under way after Arkansas couple shot to death

MOUNTAIN HOME — An Arkansas couple is dead following what authorities believe was am early-morning murder-suicide.

The Baxter County Sheriff’s Office says a man telephoned authorities at 12:19 a.m. Saturday after he found his mother and stepfather shot dead in their home.

Deputies who responded found 54-year-old Kenneth Farley lying on his back on the bedroom floor with a pistol by his side. They also located a woman identified as 57-yerar-old Jane Marie Farley face down on the bedroom floor.

Sheriff John Montgomery says a preliminary investigation indicates Farley shot his wife once in her lower back and again in her chest before shooting himself in the throat.

The victims’ bodies were transported to the State Crime Lab in Little Rock to confirm the cause of their deaths. The investigation is ongoing.