(2025-2Q) The Arkansas Policy Foundation was founded by business leaders to serve the community and advance ideas to create more prosperity for Arkansans. The Policy Foundation was founded 30 years ago as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank that publishes credible research, hosts forums to encourage citizenship and is cited in national and state news media.
The Policy Foundation is closely associated with ideas such as phase-out of the state income tax and school choice to create educational competition. These ideas were first discussed in the Foundation’s founding year of 1995.
Less known is the Foundation’s role advancing generally overlooked ideas to create more prosperity for Arkansans by expanding medical care through market-based, voluntary solutions.
The Foundation’s work in this area follows a short, five-step process:
- External consultation and networking with national policy experts to examine market-based ideas for expanding medical care.
- Internal study to determine the feasibility of these ideas in Arkansas.
- External publication of Foundation research if it is determined the idea is feasible in Arkansas.
- External dialogue with citizen-stakeholders and policymakers via briefings, question-and-answer sessions, public forums and news media coverage.
- External approval and implementation of ideas by policymakers and citizens.
The Foundation’s approach in this area is non-confrontational and focused on achieving a consensus that leads to successful implementation of an idea.
The enclosed report explains two market-based ideas successfully advanced this year. These are Remote Area Medical’s voluntary pop-up clinics for the uninsured and expansion of Arkansas’ Right to Try law. The Foundation will continue to identify other ideas in this niche policy market.
