Panel advances ‘ private option’ bill
LITTLE ROCK — A proposal to continue Arkansas’ compromise Medicaid expansion cleared a legislative panel on Thursday, but uncertainty remained about whether there’s enough support among lawmakers to keep the subsidized health coverage for more than 87,000 people.
The Joint Budget Committee endorsed the funding measure for the “private option,” which was approved last year as an alternative to expanding Medicaid enrollment under the federal health care law. Under the private option, the state is using federal Medicaid money to purchase private insurance for thousands of low- income residents.
The measure now heads to the House, which is expected to vote on the legislation Tuesday. Reauthorizing the program will require 75 votes in the 100- member House and 27 votes in the 35- member Senate.
Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe said clearing that vote threshold will be an obstacle but that he remained cautiously optimistic the state would keep the expanded health coverage.
“The reason I am is, the logic is there,” Beebe told reporters. “I mean, you can hate
Obamacare all you want to, you can hate what they did in Washington all you want to. We can’t change that in Arkansas; you can only change that in Washington, D. C. So we need to do the best we can for our own people.”
The funding proposal includes several changes to the private option law that are intended to win over opponents of the program. They include a prohibition on the state spending any public funds on promotion or outreach for the private option, as well as the insurance marketplace created under the federal overhaul.
The measure also includes a Feb. 1 deadline for the federal government to agree to three changes to the private option plan, including the creation of health savings accounts for some participants and an end to non- emergency transportation for beneficiaries. Beebe and other Democrats had objected to a Jan. 1 deadline that was initially proposed.
House Speaker Davy Carter said he believed there’s enough support in his chamber to approve the bill, and said he didn’t plan to negotiate any more changes to the private option
“The reality is the bill we’re going to see on Tuesday, that’s the bill,” Carter, R- Cabot, said. “There isn’t changing it, there isn’t any sending it back. It’s that or nothing.”
It’s unclear how much the changes help in winning support for the expanded health coverage. Senate backers of the private option said they remain a vote shy in that chamber. The program is in jeopardy after an opponent of the private option won a special Senate election last month and a former supporter announced she now opposed it.
“I don’t know that it changes anything in terms of the math in the Senate,” said Sen. Jonathan Dismang, R- Beebe, who helped craft the private option law last year.
Opponents said nothing would change their mind and said they would continue pressing for an end to the expanded health coverage.
“At the end of the day, we’re concerned about all the extra people we’re putting on health care and the cost for my generation and my children’s generation,” Sen. Bart Hester, R- Cave Springs, said. “If you can’t eliminate the people on it and the costs associated with it, then there’s no amendment that’s acceptable.”
The bill will have to overcome reservations among some Democrats, who say the prohibition on advertising the private option threatens attempts to sign up more people and keep the program thriving. Some also have objected to ending the non- emergency transportation.
Democrats in both chambers indicated that they’ll grudgingly back the measure, despite the amendments.
“If somebody has to be given an opportunity to show how mean and callous they are to the poor people of this state just to give them health care, then so be it,” said Sen. Stephanie Flowers, D- Pine Bluff. “That’s a concession I can live with.” Associated Press writer Christina Huynh contributed to this report