BETWEEN THE LINES: Lawmakers Miss On Medicaid

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

State lawmakers are apparently too busy fiddling with concealed-carry legislation to deal with the Medicaid expansion issue that was supposed to dominate this session.

Going into the session, Gov. Mike Beebe and legislative leaders alike were citing this looming Medicaid issue as one of the most, if not the most, important questions before them.

Yet, nothing seems to be happening on that front.

Instead, the governor just signed into law authority for Arkansans to carry concealed weapons into churches, unless the churches won’t allow the guns in.

There’s also a push to allow arms on college campuses that appears headed for passage, albeit with a promise that the institutions may opt out.

In other words, church members and college and university leaders may block weapons that the Legislature would gladly allow in those venues. But the state’s lawmakers, or a majority of them, have made the National Rifle Association and the gun-toting public happy. That will keep those donations and, presumably, votes fl owing.

Another piece of related legislation, a bill to make concealed-carry records secret, just adds to the insanity. The existing law only allows release of the names and ZIP codes of people who are licensed to carry concealed weapons, but this new proposal would strip away even that limited public information.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette just cross-matched the available licensing information with federal ZIP codes and found out that a lot of those on license applications don’t exist. The number is something like 13 percent of the ZIP codes submitted. If the ZIP codes are wrong, what else in those license applications is wrong?

And, with no access at all to public records, how will anyone monitor if the licensing procedure is providing any of the protections to the public that are intended?

At least, with the limited name and ZIP code information, someone worried about a threatening neighbor or coworker could probably figure out if that person is licensed to carry a weapon. That opportunity will be gone if Senate Bill 131, which has already passed the Senate, becomes law.

Those are just a couple of illustrations of what the Legislature is doing while this Medicaid expansion question remains unanswered.

There could even be a move afoot to put the whole issue oft until 2014.

At least one Republican lawmaker on the House Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee, which must clear the legislation, is encouraging colleagues to wait until the fiscal session that will begin in February 2014.

That’s the proposal being floated now that Gov. Mike Beebe has said he’s not inclined to call a special session later this year to address the matter.

Instead, the governor contends Medicaid expansion not only needs to happen, but needs to happen now.

Expansion, if approved by three-quarters of both chambers of theLegislature, would extend Medicaid to another 250,000 of the state’s poorer citizens.

The federal government would pay the added cost, with the state assuming up to 10 percent of the cost a few years into the program.

On Monday, Beebe said he isn’t rushing lawmakers for a decision in the next couple of weeks but prefers action this session.

“Why would you delay it when you can do it now?” he asked during a speech to the Arkansas County Judges Association, suggesting lawmakers have plenty of time to gather information on the subject from as many sources as they want.

There are still questions to be answered about the expansion plan and whatever fl exibility the federal government will allow.

That process should be respected, but lawmakers need to get on with the information-gathering and show at least as much interest in the health care needs of poor Arkansans as they’ve demonstrated in concealed-carry privileges.

BRENDA BLAGG IS A FREELANCE COLUMNIST AND LONGTIME JOURNALIST IN NORTHWEST ARKANSAS.

Opinion, Pages 5 on 02/13/2013