Against our interests

The irony is so bitterly delicious, it brings tears. Seldom has Arkansas seen the like of this bizarre political posturing by our congressional delegation against their constituents’ own interests in health.

On one hand, here’s the Arkansas Works health-care insurance program, based on Affordable Care Act (ACA, “Obamacare”) principles and brilliantly shepherded by Governors Beebe and Hutchinson through the state Legislature with bipartisan support. It protects some 300,000 Arkansans from disastrous medical bills, receiving nationwide acclaim as a path-breaking program.

On the other, there’s the now-sidetracked Trump/GOP repeal-and-replace effort, stone-deaf to basic facts about how insurance works (as even right-wing columnist Charles Krauthammer recognized). The latest GOP proposal would let insurers refuse coverage for 10 essential health benefits including outpatient care, prescription drugs, rehab, preventive and child health, pregnancy and maternity care, mental health and lab services.

Strangely, our congressional delegation, except for Sen. Tom Cotton and Rep. Rick Crawford, sided with Trump and GOP House leadership to undermine the benefits that Governor Hutchinson, his allies, and the ACA brought Arkansas.

Sharpening the irony, Representative Crawford’s reasons for opposing the GOP bill boil down to this: It didn’t sufficiently nullify the ACA’s protections for poorer constituents in his east Arkansas district. Senator Cotton’s reasons for opposing the House GOP bill are unclear, but he probably understands its adverse effects on his statewide constituency.

I write only as an Arkansas citizen and health-law teacher, not as a representative of the University of Arkansas. ROBERT B. LEFLAR Fayetteville