Beebe to rely on lawmaker insurance cue

He wants new leadership’s guidance on exchange plan

— Gov. Mike Beebe will rely on new Republican House and Senate leaders to determine whether there is Legislative consensus to support a state-run health insurance exchange before the state changes its plan, he said Monday.

The 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires each state to have a health-insurance exchange functioning by Jan. 1, 2014. An exchange is a marketplace where individuals and small businesses can shop for insurance coverage.

After lawmakers rejected the idea of Arkansas creating the exchange itself in 2011, Beebe had settled on a partnership with the federal government in which the federal government controls the exchange but the state has some say in its operation.

But on Nov. 15, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services pushed the deadline back until Dec. 14 for states to signal what type of exchange they want: federally run, a state-federal partnership or a state-run operation. Beebe had already sent a letter to the agency before the new deadline was announced requesting approval of the state’s plan for a state-federal partnership for an estimated 326,000 state residents.

That could change if lawmakers signal they would support a state-run exchange, Beebe said.

In the 2011 Legislative session, legislators, led by Republicans, rebuffed efforts by Beebe and Insurance Commissioner Jay Bradford to gain approval of funds for a state-controlled exchange.

Beebe said he has not scheduled to meet with incoming House Speaker Davy Carter of Cabot or Sen. Michael Lamoureux of Russellville because of the Thanksgiving holiday, but plans to speak with them early next week.

“It’s obvious that the federal government doesn’t want to do this or they wouldn’t have extended this deadline,” Beebe said Monday. “We’ll get the leadership of both Houses to kind of run traps, and see if Davy and Michael can get a feel for whether or not there is a consensus. If there’s a consensus, then we’ll try to accommodate what the Legislature wants to do. If there’s not, then we’ll just stick with what they basically indicated last time.”

Based on his conversations with legislators, Lamoureux said, nothing has changed.

“I think the general sense is it would be difficult to get the support to pass a state exchange at this point,” he said. “I don’t think it’s the priority for any member. Maintaining the status quo on that is probably the best.”

Beebe said he has no indication whether members would be interested in an exchange.

“This all just happened,” Beebe said. “At the 11th hour, they extended the deadline. This isn’t a big deal, I mean, it’s not like it’s a sea change here, it’s just a question of whether or not the federal government is going to do the big part and we’re going to do some part, or whether we’re all going to do all of it.”

As of Monday, 11 states haven’t chosen an option; 17 states and the District of Columbia have chosen a state-run exchange; 16 defaulted to the federal option; and six want a federal-state partnership, according to statehealthfacts.org, a website produced by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

Arkansas, Pages 9 on 11/20/2012

Upcoming Events