MEDICAL SERVICES’ funds clear Senate.

Spending bill passes after close vote

A measure granting spending authority for the state Department of Medical Services to use $9 billion in federal and state funds in the next fiscal year cleared the Arkansas Senate on Monday with one vote to spare.

The Senate voted 28-5 to approve Senate Bill 55 by the Joint Budget Committee, sending the measure to the House for further action. Twenty-seven votes are required for approval of appropriations in the 35-member Senate.

Republican Sens. Charles Beckham of McNeil, Bart Hester of Cave Springs, Trent Garner of El Dorado, Dan Sullivan of Jonesboro and Gary Stubblefield of Branch voted against the appropriation. Republican Sen. Alan Clark of Lonsdale and Democratic Sen. Larry Teague of Nashville were recorded as not voting.

Each legislative session, the state Division of Medical Services’ appropriation often has difficulty obtaining the required threefourths vote for approval because it includes spending authority for the Medicaid expansion program that provides private health care coverage for about 300,000 low-income adults.

The Senate’s approval of the appropriation comes after that body voted 263 March 9 for a bill that would authorize a retooling of Arkansas’ Medicaid expansion program.

Senate Bill 410, dubbed the “Arkansas Health and Opportunity for Me Act,” proposes to scrap the work requirement established by Gov. Asa Hutchinson and lawmakers in 2017 and replace it with a new system that incentivizes work and education with access to government-subsidized private health plans. The bill is in the House.

The plan would require a new federal waiver from President Joe Biden’s administration in addition to approval from state lawmakers.

The Division of Medical Services’ budget request for fiscal 2022, which begins July 1, sought $8.6 billion in total funds with $6.6 billion in federal funds and $2.08 billion in state matching funds, said state Department of Human Services spokeswoman Amy Webb.

“Back in October when the biennial budget request was built, ARWorks FY22 was projected at $2.18 billion total with [the federal] share of $1.96 billion and state share of $218 million,” she said in a written statement. “Traditional Medicaid was projected at $6.47 [billion] total with [the federal] share of $4.59 billion and state share of $1.88 billion.”

Because of the public health emergency resulting from the coronavirus pandemic, the Medicaid program’s finances have been assisted by the federal government increasing the match rate for traditional Medicaid by 6.2 percentage points, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2020, to 77.62%. Webb said the president has extended the public health emergency through Dec 31. 2021.