Senator: Put health plan to vote again

Sen. Bryan King, R-Green Forest, said Gov. Mike Beebe should recall legislators for a special legislative session to overturn a 2013 law that, if approved by the federal government, would allow federal Medicaid funds to be used to pay for private health insurance for 250,000 poor Arkansans.
Sen. Bryan King, R-Green Forest, said Gov. Mike Beebe should recall legislators for a special legislative session to overturn a 2013 law that, if approved by the federal government, would allow federal Medicaid funds to be used to pay for private health insurance for 250,000 poor Arkansans.

Because part of the federal health-care law has been delayed, the state should rescind its approval for 250,000 poor Arkansans to receive federally funded private health insurance, a state senator said Tuesday.

Sen. Bryan King, R-Green Forest, said Gov. Mike Beebe should recall legislators for a special legislative session to overturn a 2013 law that, if approved by the federal government, would allow federal Medicaid funds to be used to pay for private health insurance for those poor Arkansans.

“This Obamacare just continues to be changing and changing, and we need to wait before we keep signing people up,” King said.

Last week a U.S. Treasury Department official announced that businesses that don’t provide health insurance coverage to workers won’t face a penalty next year as they had been scheduled to under the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Penalties for companies that offer unaffordable coverage were also delayed, as were verification requirements for income and health-insurance status.

Arkansas supporters of using federal funds to buy the private insurance - something called the “private option” - promoted it as not only a boon for the working poor but as a way to stave off an estimated $38 million in penalties for businesses, as well as a patch for financial cuts to hospitals.

Beebe said he won’t call lawmakers back to Little Rock to undo the law, which barely passed in the waning days of the legislative session.

“What will go away is the federal taxpayer money helping our hospitals and providing insurance for working Arkansas families,” Beebe said in a written statement. “Sen. King long ago abandoned interest in finding an Arkansas solution to the challenges of Obamacare, instead choosing the pipe dream that somehow it will simply go away if we don’t deal with it.”

Under the insurance model, Arkansans who earn up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level - $15,860 for an individual or $32,500 for a family of four - would have their premiums paid with Medicaid dollars. They would be able to obtain insurance from private companies through an online marketplace called an insurance exchange, along with more than 200,000 Arkansans who would pay for their own insurance. The plan has not been approved by the federal government.

People are expected to begin enrolling in insurance plans Oct. 1.

The model was sponsored by Republicans and supported by Democrats, including Beebe. King was not an outspoken opponent of the legislation during this year’s legislative session. He voted against, or didn’t vote on, the two bills that created the private option and the bill that allowed spending.

The House sponsor of the legislation, Rep. John Burris, R-Harrison, said he doesn’t take King’s call for a special session seriously.

“Putting out a press release asking the governor to call for a special session is not a serious approach to any concern. I would instead recommend that he attend a committee meeting and offer his input there,” Burris said.

If Beebe won’t call a special session, King said, he will try to block funding for the program during the 2014 fiscal legislative session. To continue the private option, at least 75 percent of each chamber must approve the funding each year.

“The most fiscally responsible thing to do is not to start signing these people up …until we see what happens on the national level,” King said. “They know in Washington, D.C., there’s major problems with this.”

The spending bill, Act 1496, passed in the House 77-23 and in the Senate 28-7.

“I think there are a lot of legislators who voted for it that have serious regrets,” King said

Beebe said rejecting the private option would have humanitarian and business ramifications.

“It throws a lot of people into the uninsured that you and I end up paying for,” Beebe said. “It’s pretty much a no-brainer, and that’s why the Legislature did what they did.”

Senate sponsor Sen. Jonathan Dismang, R-Beebe, said the Legislature doesn’t need a knee-jerk reaction to the federal delay by holding a special session. He said any changes that may be needed can wait until next year’s fiscal session.

“Our whole goal was to provide more certainty to Arkansas businesses and Arkansas families,” Dismang said. “The need for certainty still exists.”

Burris said the private option protects Arkansans from uncertainty about their tax bills because of what happens at the federal level.

“The basic question is, what is your plan to protect business from that penalty the next year?” he said.

King also said lawmakers should reverse Act 1500 of 2013, which would let Arkansas take over the health insurance pool that the federal government is running for state residents.

Beebe said legislators are free to change their minds on who runs the exchange. The state cannot take over the exchange until 2015.

“We don’t have a state exchange now, and it will be up to the Legislature as to whether or not we want one,” Beebe said.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 07/10/2013

Upcoming Events