LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas may be home to a handful of multinational businesses, but small businesses are the backbone of our communities and local economies.
Many more Arkansans will now have access to affordable health care thanks to small business tax credits provided by the new federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
In spite of the fact that 25 percent of Arkansans under age 65 have no health insurance, all four of our congressional representatives voted recently to take those credits away from employers. Our 40,000 Arkansas small businesses employ tens of thousands of workers.
These four elected representatives also voted to end relief from high prescription drug costs for seniors and allow insurance companies to deny you coverage if you ever get sick. It’s hard to accept their willingness to turn their backs on our families when their own generous, government-funded health insurance remains untouched.
The effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, ultimately failed in the Senate, but our representatives refused to put aside the politics of the moment and focus on the big problems facing America and Arkansas.
Certainly, the health insurance reform law has its flaws. All legislation has flaws. But the responsible thing to do is to find those flaws and fix them. The worst thing to do is to point fingers and become the pawns of partisan politics, all the while failing to offer any better alternative.
You would never know it by listening to your congressman, but the ACA actually reduces the federal deficit by $230 billion over the next 10 years. For all their bluster about controlling the deficit and making government more efficient, our congressmen voted to add to our deficit. Once the new health care law is fully implemented,no one can be denied insurance coverage thanks to a pre-existing condition. The act also fills the “donut hole” in Medicare’s prescription drug coverage. Thousands of Arkansas seniors have already been mailed checks to help defray the costs of their ever rising prescription drugs.
Apparently, our congressmen think it is a bad idea to help our seniors afford the medicine they need.
When it comes down to making a living each day, Arkansans from the Delta to the Ozarks don’t spend much time thinking about Washington politics. They worry about everyday issues like paying the bills, raising children or caring for aging parents. They need congressmen who will support public policies that make their families healthier and stronger.
At long last low-income families will have access to affordable health care. Increased eligibility for Medicaid and more options for employer-based benefits mean the rural poor and the formerly uninsured will no longer be dependent on our most expensive health care delivery options like an emergency room.
The ACA is designed to make sure all of these citizens have the health care they need while increasing efficiencies and reducing costs.
Arkansas stands to benefit in great measure thanks to the new health reform law. Our state will see a significant increase in federal dollars for health care. Independent studies tell us that every dollar spent turns over in our state six times. That means our state and local economies are going to be strengthened. That means more folks will have more money to spend in small businesses across our state, and those small businesses will more easily afford health insurance for their employees thanks to tax credits included in the new law.
Let’s encourage our congressmen to improve the existing law and correct the flaws that are sure to surface. This is a time of historic opportunity for Arkansas. We need leaders, not obstructionists.
Jim Argue Jr. of Little Rock is president of United Methodist Foundation of Arkansas. He is a former member of the Arkansas General Assembly and president pro tempore of the Senate.
Editorial, Pages 11 on 02/21/2011