Gov. Mike Beebe signed a law Friday reauthorizing the state’s use of federal funds to purchase private health insurance for low-income Arkansans, three days after the measure was sent to his office.

The Democratic governor said he signed Senate Bill 111 into law as Act 257 in a private ceremony with state employees in the Governor’s Conference Room because he “wanted to do [the signing] with all the people that never get any recognition.”

“It wasn’t any clandestine reason to do it,” Beebe said afterward.

“Legislators were busy, and they get all the ink [in the newspapers] all the time. I wanted the people at DHS [Department of Human Services], Insurance [Department] and everywhere else that worked so dang hard behind the scenes to have a moment,” the governor said.

About three dozen people from those departments attended the signing ceremony, plus a lobbyist for the Arkansas Hospital Association, spokesmen for Beebe said.

After the signing, Beebe fist-bumped the lobbyist, Jodiane Tritt, outside the Governor’s Conference Room.

The expanded Medicaid program extends 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.

Supporters of the private option said that ending funding for the program would strip health insurance from tens of thousands of Arkansans. Opponents argued that state acceptance of federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act funds would add to the national debt and eventually require state matching funds.

Act 257 authorizes the state to use $915 million in federal funds for the program in fiscal 2015, which begins July 1 and ends June 30, 2015.

Last year, the federal government agreed to pay 100 percent of the cost of the private option for three years.

In 2017, the state will be expected to pay 5 percent of the cost, or $45.75 million, if the total expenditure remains at $915 million. The state’s share would grow to 6 percent in 2018, 7 percent in 2019 and cap at 10 percent, or $91.5 million, in 2020, assuming the cost remains the same.

Sen. Jonathan Dismang, R-Searcy, who is an architect of the private option, said he didn’t want to participate in this year’s bill-signing ceremony.

“We have done that [last year for the law creating the private option], and this is the appropriation,” he said.

“Enough folks had feelings on both sides. There was no sense in going down that road and stirring up trouble,” said Dismang, who is line to be the Senate president pro tempore in 2015 and 2016.

Tritt, referring to the 2015 regular session and the future of the private option, said that “we are definitely worried going forward.”

With more Arkansans insured, doctors are expecting more patients and increased revenue.

The Department of Human Services has said 127,051 Arkansans have been approved for coverage under the expanded Medicaid program, or just more than half of the 250,000 who are estimated to be eligible. Of those who have been approved for coverage, 93,966 had been enrolled, according to the most recent figures released by the department.

“We think it means about $200 million for Arkansas hospitals, but that would mean that almost everybody had to have enrolled,” Tritt said.

“We were very conservative in our estimates in how many people we actually thought would come to the hospital once they were enrolled and had a payable source whether through the private option or even on the exchanges,” Tritt said.

“So we’ll just have to kind of watch and see. We need people enrolled and we need the benefits that we have professed that we are going to have come to fruition. Otherwise, 2015 is going to be pretty rough,” she added.

Some Republican incumbents, who voted for the private-option funding and are facing primary opponents, expect that the private option will be a key campaign issue. Only after the candidate filing period ended Monday was the House able to gain enough votes to approve the funding measure.

Democrats have also said the private-option vote will stir debate this election season.

“I think it’s going to be a good campaign issue for us because so many people have already signed up for it, and it was a bipartisan plan designed first by Republicans,” said Lizzy Price, spokesman for the Arkansas Democratic Party. “I think there’s more support for the private option in Arkansas than … healthcare reform on the federal level. I think this is going to be good for us.”

Several legislators have said they will scrutinize the program on the basis of the services it is able to deliver and the cost to taxpayers over the next year.

Rep. Kim Hammer, R-Hot Springs, cast one of the three deciding votes in the House this week that enabled the legislation to go to the governor’s office after four previous votes fell just short of the required 75 percent threshold. He said then and reiterated Friday that he will be the first to vote to dismantle the program if it does not live up to its promises.

“We are developing a subcommittee under the Public Health Committee that would be charged with the responsibility of developing an exit strategy in the event that the private option goes away,” Hammer said. “We have to deal with the legislative body that will come back in 2015. And I think the debate will have a whole different tone next year for a number of reasons.”

Hammer said having “hard numbers” about the cost of the program and other aspects of its operations will help legislators move beyond speculation and forecasts.

Meanwhile, some state officials breathed a sigh of relief that this year’s debate was completely over Friday.

“The certainty of having it signed for this year is a relief,” said Kate Luck, spokesman for the Human Services Department. “We’re going to keep moving forward, taking applications, processing applications. It’s a possibility that there could be another debate next year. But, we can just hope that each year the legislators just see the value of the program.”

Front Section, Pages 1 on 03/08/2014