Private option is LR topic for rivals

Republican gubernatorial candidate Asa Hutchinson said Friday that he's optimistic state lawmakers will do "the right thing" with the fledgling private option program, while Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mike Ross said he will work with lawmakers to protect the program.

Hutchinson said he wants more information about the program, which uses federal Medicaid dollars to purchase private health insurance for low-income Arkansans, in order to guide his decision making. He said he'll work with Democrats and Republicans in the Legislature to determine the program's future.

Ross said that the private option provides health insurance to "the people that are trying to do the right thing and stay off welfare, but they are working the jobs with no benefits."

"As a Christian, I think it is the right thing to do, and I am going to do my best as governor to make sure that we continue to fund it," he said.

More than 152,000 Arkansans have enrolled in health insurance through the private option, according to the state Department of Human Services.

Ross and Hutchinson spoke separately on numerous issues -- ranging from Common Core educational standards to the state's minimum wage -- to about 100 people attending a meeting of the Mississippi Delta Grassroots Caucus in Little Rock.

The caucus describes itself on its website as a "broad coalition of grassroots leaders throughout the eight-state Delta region." Its 18-member executive committee is composed of public officials, higher education leaders and private business leaders.

Ross is a former 4th Congressional District representative and state senator from Little Rock. Hutchinson is a former 3rd District representative from Rogers and federal Homeland Security undersecretary.

During the 2013 and 2014 sessions, the Republican-controlled Legislature narrowly authorized the use of federal funds for the private option. Seventy-five votes in the 100-member House and 27 votes in the 35-member Senate are required to approve funding for the program.

The expansion of the Medicaid program, approved by the Legislature last year, extends coverage to adults with incomes of up to 138 percent of the poverty level -- $16,105 for an individual or $32,913 for a family of four.

The federal government will pay the full cost of covering the newly eligible enrollees until 2017, when states will begin paying 5 percent of the cost. The state's share will then rise each year until it reaches 10 percent in 2020.

Supporters of the private option maintain that it's a conservative alternative to President Barack Obama's federal health care overhaul that was created by Arkansans, noting that the state obtained waivers from the federal government for it.

Opponents often call it Obamacare because funding was made possible by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010.

During this year's fiscal session, the Senate voted 27-8 to reauthorize funding for the program with no votes to spare and the House voted 76-24 to fund the program with one vote to spare.

Since then, two opponents of the private option, who call it Obamacare, have been elected to the Senate to replace two senators who voted to fund the program. That led Senate President Pro Tempore Michael Lamoureux, R-Russellville, to say this week that it's difficult to foresee the state Senate reauthorizing the program during the 2015 session.

Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe said this week that he's cautiously optimistic about the future of the private option.

Noting Beebe's remark, Hutchinson said Friday that he's optimistic that "our legislators and our state will do the right thing with the 150,000 that have enrolled in the private option."

"We'll do the right thing in terms of making the adjustments that are needed to reflect the values of Arkansas and to make sure that this program is an incentive for people to work and not an incentive for people not to work -- which is a quality and a value that I bring to every program that we have," he said.

"And then, we have to evaluate it long term as to whether it is affordable and we do the right thing with the people of Arkansas," said Hutchinson.

The program provides health insurance for thousands of previously uninsured Arkansans, and it has been good for rural hospitals that have been able to cut their unreimbursed indigent care, he said.

"We are going to be learning something every day about our new experiment with this private option, how it's working, the cost of it, the premiums of it, [and] the consequence to private providers, including charitable providers," Hutchinson said.

"We need to see how the elections come out in November. We need to count the votes, and we need to work together to come up with the best solution, based upon some of the values that I have articulated," he said.

Ross told the Delta Grassroots Caucus that he would have voted for the private option legislation and signed it into law and "as governor, I'll protect funding for the Medicaid expansion, the so-called private option."

He said the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that he voted against in Congress cut Medicare reimbursements rates to hospitals. But the Medicaid expansion allowed under the federal law allows the hospitals "to be made whole again because they ... start getting paid and treat patients that they were having to write off and treat for free," Ross said.

Hospitals in Arkansas are adamantly supporting the private option because it "will make a difference of whether or not some of these hospitals survive or not," he said.

Ross said the private option is saving the state about $89 million a year in general revenue partly from no longer having to fund uncompensated care programs.

"From a fiscal standpoint [and] from helping to save our hospitals, it makes a lot of sense to me," he said.

State officials said the savings from the private option will pay for tax cuts that will reduce state general revenue by about $85 million in fiscal 2015, which starts July 1.

Other issues covered by the two candidates for governor:

• Common Core educational standards.

Hutchinson said he would ask the education commissioner to review the standards and "make sure we maintain the high standards [and] keep the flexibility at our local school districts, and I am going to be listening to the teachers and parents."

Ross said he would ask the education commissioner and the state Board of Education for "a full review of how to implement Common Core and whether or not we need to change parts of it."

• A proposed citizen-initiated act to raise the state's minimum wage.

The wage is now $6.25 an hour, and the federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. The state Department of Labor has said that the vast majority of workers in Arkansas are covered by both and are paid the higher rate.

Hutchinson said he wants to work with the Legislature next year to "look at the economic factors at that time as to what the minimum wage should be raised to next year."

"I would prefer it to be done by the Legislature versus by an initiated act [because] ... to change it down the road, it takes a two-thirds vote of the Legislature," he said.

If it qualifies for the ballot and is approved by voters, a proposed initiated act would increase the minimum wage from $6.25 an hour to $7.50 on Jan. 1. The proposal would increase the minimum wage to $8 on Jan. 1, 2016, and to $8.50 on Jan. 1, 2017.

Ross said he has endorsed the proposed initiated act.

"Put it on the ballot and let the voters decide, and I hope it makes its way on the ballot."

• Academic Challenge Scholarship program.

Both candidates said that they don't support placing more state general revenue into the program to make up for the lottery's declining net proceeds for college scholarships. The program is financed with the proceeds, which have dipped in the past two fiscal years, plus $20 million a year in state general revenue.

A Section on 06/14/2014

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