Lawmakers Should OK Private Option

Saturday, March 1, 2014

The Arkansas General Assembly looked a lot like that Bill Murray movie "Groundhog Day" for a while.

For several days, Arkansans woke up, got out of bed, dragged that comb across their heads, went to work then came home to the same news day after day: The state House of Representatives had voted again on maintaining the private option alternative to expansion of Medicaid, and they had again rejected it.

What’s the Point?

The two lawmakers from Northwest Arkansas who supported the private option last year — Les “Skip” Carnine and Mary Lou Slinkard — should maintain their support to keep the program going in Arkansas.

Well, that's not exactly the fact. In truth, the vast majority of House members repeatedly backed the program, which uses federal dollars to make private health insurance either free or affordable to thousands of Arkansans whose health care has been the burden of local hospitals. The first vote was 70-27, the second was 68-27, then came 72-25 and finally 71-18. But appropriations require 75 votes in the House to pass, so the power rests with a few votes clearly in the minority.

Eight lawmakers from Northwest Arkansas are taking part in the minority resistance to funding the program created last year. The opponents this year include Randy Alexander (R-Springdale); Bob Ballinger (R-Hindsville); Jonathan Barnett (R-Siloam Springs); Les "Skip" Carnine (R-Rogers); Jim Dotson (R-Bentonville); Justin Harris (R. West Fork); Debra Hobbs (R-Rogers); and Mary Lou Slinkard (R-Gravette).

So far, around 100,000 Arkansans who previously could not afford or qualify for health care insurance have accessed the life-changing benefit made available through the private option. These are people at or near poverty, or who had previous conditions that disqualified them from private coverage. These are people whose conditions tax our state's health care system because they avoid preventative medical care and often end up in costly emergency rooms when illnesses reach crisis proportions.

Providing Arkansans with access to health insurance will lighten the burden on hospitals large and small across the state. They've been carrying the load of "uncompensated care" for years. Over time, that leads to higher costs for everyone.

And now, only a year after approving the private option coverage, some in the Legislature believe they're helping Arkansans by rallying opposition to the very program they created. Two of Northwest Arkansas' lawmakers, Carnine and Slinkard, backed the private option last year. So far in 2014, they're among the folks threatening its future.

Folks, the same reasons that last year made the private option a great Arkansas-made alternative to President Obama's expansion of Medicaid apply to this year's debate. We respect the

We're hopeful the stymied effort to authorize 2014 funding for the private option will gain new life once Monday's election-year filing period ends. Perhaps conservative lawmakers fear casting their votes for the private option until they're assured it won't cost them in this year's elections. So be it.

But it will be a sad day for Arkansas if the House of Representatives continues to view the private option as their leverage against Obamacare. It's not. And they shouldn't try to fight the Obamacare battle in our state Arkansas needs to use the $915 million a year in federal funds to provide this health coverage in the best way it can, and that was and is the private option.

In particular, we encourage Carnine and Slinkard to rejoin the majority, not because the private option is perfect, but because it helps our neighbors and our health care institutions.

Commentary on 03/01/2014