Private Option A Lifesaver For Some Arkansans

The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is a lot like Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan. It is our society’s way of responding in compassion to our neighbor in need.

In the story from Luke’s gospel (10:29-37), there is an injured man on the side of the road. Two religious leaders see him but pass him by. But a Samaritan - a foreigner and heretic, according to Jesus’ listeners - has compassion. He tends to the wounds and underwrites the stranger’s further care. Jesus asks, “Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell?” The answer: “The one who showed him mercy.”

Mercy in the form of affordable health care is now bringing hope and rescue to millions of our neighbors. Here in Arkansas, 85,000 have signed upfor coverage they can now afford. The state’s “private option” extends coverage, providing federally funded premium payments to private insurers covering newly eligible Arkansans.

Here are stories of Arkansas neighbors who already are benefi ting.

Jennifer Trader built a small business in Springdale cleaning houses. She works hard. She’s had no vacation in 12 years. Jennifer is the mother of two. She couldn’t afford her former insurance, which was $350 a month with a $5,000 deductible.

Jennifer is on medication she’s supposed to take three times a day. She used to only take one a day so it would stretch out until she could afford a refi ll. Thanks to Arkansas’ private option, she now has aff ordable insurance that covers her medication.

Jason Mitchell is a construction worker in Paragould. He levels fl oors.

He’s frugal, saving about 70 percent of his income. He and his wife dated seven years before they married ten years ago. They have a young baby. “We’re not the kind to ask for help,” he says. “We do it ourselves.”

Jason has arthritis in both hips, no cartilage left between the bones. The pain was so severe his wife had to bathe him. He was on the strongest arthritis drugs on the market, but the pain was so bad some days he would just sit and cry all day. Thanks to the privateoption, he can take Embril, four shots a month. Having the medication is like the difference between night and day, he said.

Wendy Phillips from Searcy is a health care worker. She inherited diabetes. She saw her dad lose his feet and legs and fi nally die from kidney failure. At age 35, Wendy had cervical cancer. Following a surgical bladder lift, she’s suff ered frequent bladder and kidney infections, and now her kidneys are failing. She needs to go on dialysis and can’t aff ord it.

Wendy has been married for 28 years and has three children. They all work.

They can’t aff ord insurance.

Before Obamacare, Wendy was disqualified and priced out of the insurance market because of her pre-existing condition. She couldn’t get medications she needed because they weren’t on the $4 list at Walmart.

Thanks to the private option, Wendy now qualifies for insurance and can get all of the medications she needs. She said, “There are a lot of families just like me that want to work every day but have health problems and can’t get insurance” to allow them to manage their illness.

If you don’t have medical insurance, start your application soon. The deadline is March 31. You can apply online, in person, by mail, or over the phone. You’ll need your Social Security number (or document number if you’re a legal immigrant) and employer and income information.

Learn how at arhealthconnector.org.

But there is a problem.

Thanks to a 1937 amendment, we’re the only state that lets one-fourth of the legislature tell the threefourths how we spend our money. We need someGood Samaritans.

If nine senators out of 35 vote down funding for the private option, families like these will be left in the ditch. If that happens, the Arkansas budget would lose millions in federal reimbursements. Hospitals will absorb uncompensated care that would have been covered under the private option. UAMS would lose $8 million to $9 million.

Some rural hospitals could close. Local health care providers would lose an estimated $1 billion of federal money.

Pray that wisdom and kindness prevails.

Jesus closes his story about the merciful Good Samaritan with the command: “Go and do likewise.”

Yes. Please!

LOWELL GRISHAM IS AN EPISCOPAL PRIEST WHO LIVES IN FAYETTEVILLE.