Longer Darr vacancy passes

Medicaid bill still hot topic

Republican state Reps. Les Carnine of Rogers (standing, from left), Lane Jean of Magnolia and Bruce Cozart of Hot Springs, along with Jonathan Barnett (seated) of Siloam Springs confer Thursday in the House chamber.

Republican state Reps. Les Carnine of Rogers (standing, from left), Lane Jean of Magnolia and Bruce Cozart of Hot Springs, along with Jonathan Barnett (seated) of Siloam Springs confer Thursday in the House chamber.

Friday, February 28, 2014

The Arkansas House convened for about 15 minutes Thursday, passing just one bill, which would allow the governor to forgo a special election for the vacant lieutenant governor’s seat.


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The bill now goes to Gov. Mike Beebe for his approval.

Meanwhile, small groups of representatives met with Speaker of the House Davy Carter throughout the day to hash out what might be negotiated to pass a funding bill for the private-option Medicaid expansion program. The conversations began Wednesday afternoon, continued into Wednesday night and resumed early Thursday.

Carter, R-Cabot, said after three days of not talking about the private option on the House floor that he hopes the issue can be addressed early next week. But he would not commit to holding a vote when the House convenes on Monday.

“We’ll go over the weekend and continue to have those discussions,” he said. “We’ll come back on Monday, and perhaps we’ll be able to get this resolved in the first part of next week.”

The closed conversations, many of which have been with opponents of the private option, as well as staff members from the state agencies that deal with the private-option program, came after 27 Republicans signed a letter sent to Carter on Monday asking that he mediate between supporters and opponents because the House had reached an impasse.

Supporters of the program failed four times last week to get the necessary 75 of 100 House votes to pass a funding bill for the private option, which would appropriate $915 million in federal Medicaid dollars to provide private health insurance to about 100,000 poor Arkansans. Movement stalled at 71 supporters Friday.

Those supporters have said that ending funding for the private option would strip health insurance from people who have recently enrolled in plans. Opponents argue that the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will add to the national debt and that the state can’t afford the 10 percent cost of the program that it will be required to pick up beginning in 2020.

The expanded Medicaid program extends private-option eligibility to adults with incomes of up to 138 percent of the poverty level - for example, $16,105 for an individual and $32,913 for a family of four.

A spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Human Services said Wednesday that 127,051 Arkansans had been approved for coverage under the expanded Medicaid program as of Saturday - just over half of the 250,000 Arkansans who are estimated to be eligible. Of those approved, 93,966 had completed the private-option enrollment process by Sunday.

However, the focus of the conversations in the speaker’s office for the past two days has centered on a way to slow down or even cap that enrollment, some of the participants have said.

Rep. Charlie Collins, R-Fayetteville, said representatives from the group of 27 members presented a proposal in writing at the first meeting Wednesday with Carter. Collins described the proposal as a “comprehensive and complete and fully formed idea.”

Collins said the group discussed that proposal and is considering, among other things, an open-enrollment period that would gradually shrink in subsequent years.

Carter said the conversations had been productive so far, but no deal has been struck.

“I wouldn’t say there’s an agreement … but we’ve been visiting with numerous members just about that concept,” Carter said Thursday afternoon. “Everybody is working together, and it’s moving forward, and there is interest in those discussions. To that extent, I think we’re making some good progress.”

Beebe also confirmed Thursday that he is continuing discussions with various representatives, but he would not name them or go into details about the talks.

Carter said that if the shrinking enrollment period proposal moves forward, the details would not be set before the session ends, partly because the plan would require a waiver from the federal government, which he said could take months to obtain. The proposal would not require any amendments on the House floor or for the Legislature to restart the process of considering a changed funding bill, he added.

Carter skirted a few other questions about the proposal, including whether those residents who tried to enroll after the enrollment period would be shifted to traditional Medicaid or not covered. He wouldn’t say how an already-approved amendment by Rep. Nate Bell, R-Mena, would affect the plan. Bell’s amendment would prevent the state from spending money on advertising or actively soliciting enrollment in the private option, which could be an issue if the state wanted to advertise when a set enrollment period went into effect.

Kate Luck, a spokesman for the Human Services Department, said that as of Thursday the department was working under the assumption that if an enrollment deadline is set and a resident misses it, they would receive coverage under traditional Medicaid. She said that when the next enrollment period opened, if they qualified, those residents could then sign up for a private plan.

Collins said the “waiver process” with the federal government would likely “delineate” whether people would be insured under the private option or traditional Medicaid if they failed to enroll in time.

Collins said the enrollment period was considered the “tip of the iceberg” and many other issues, such as waivers and the technology for the program, must be worked out.

“This is still a working process. My belief is we’re narrowing, we’re circling around the exact specifics,” Collins said.

Collins said he expected the proposals from the meeting to be drafted by early next week and a vote could come as early as Monday. But Collins said things would have to move quickly for both chambers to wrap up their business by next Thursday.

“If we haven’t nailed down and had a vote by Tuesday, Wednesday becomes a nervous day and a stressful day,” Collins said.

Opponents of the private-option measure said they were pleased with the discussions and the chance to be heard. Rep. Bruce Cozart, R-Hot Springs, said he and a few other members involved in early-morning discussions Thursday, gathered as many opponents as they could for a meeting midmorning Thursday to explain the progress made and gauge reactions.

“Some people said they liked it. Some said they appreciated the discussion but it was not going to change their heart,” he said. “Did it change anyone’s vote? No one was ready to say they had changed. Not everyone was in that meeting, but I feel like I did my part to move us [out of this impasse]. A lot of them are going to think about it over the weekend.”

Cozart said he also was going to talk to his constituents over the weekend but that he doubted he could change his vote.

“I don’t think they would let me. My base is the down to-earth people who go to work everyday. Those are the people I listen to,” he said. “Eight out of every 10 have been telling me they don’t like it. I haven’t had many discussions with people this week because I’ve been at the Capitol so much, but I will have plenty of them this weekend. For now, I don’t see myself moving.”

“Holding a vote after the filing period [to be on election ballots] may help some people, but I do think that anyone who has a primary isn’t going to change their vote,” he said.

Cozart also said the group made it clear that the members who had voted no throughout the fiscal session would not ostracize anyone who changed their votes.

“We’re not going to throw anybody under the bus,” he said. “I would never do that to anybody.”

While talks moved forward on the private option, voting moved forward on a bill to hold off on calling a special election to fill the lieutenant governor’s seat left vacant when Springdale Republican Mark Darr resigned Feb. 1. Darr resigned a few weeks after the Arkansas Ethics Commission levied an $11,000 fine against him for 11 violations of state ethics and campaign-spending laws.

The bill, which passed 76-10 with three members voting present, was already approved by the Senate and will now move to the governor’s office for his approval. Supporters have said the measure will save the state about $1.3 million in election-related costs.

The current law requires the governor to set a special election within 150 days of the vacancy occurring.

The bill allows the governor the discretion to hold off on calling a special election for lieutenant governor if the seat would otherwise be on the general election ballot within 10 months.

Beebe has said he plans to sign the bill.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 02/28/2014