If you care about the politics of Obamacare and the future of health-care reform, Arkansas's new Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson just gave one of the most important health-care speeches in recent memory.
For the past two years, Arkansas has played a significant role in getting a number of conservative states to accept Obamacare's Medicaid expansion. The state's previous Democratic governor, Mike Beebe, in early 2013 struck a deal with Republican state lawmakers and the Obama administration to use federal Medicaid expansion dollars to purchase private coverage for low-income adults.
Since then, more than 200,000 Arkansas residents have enrolled in what's known as the "private option," and it signaled to Republican-led states that they could craft alternative coverage plans to accept Medicaid expansion funding in their states. Bill Clinton, in a fall 2013 speech highly advertised by the Obama administration, called on Republican state officials opposing the Affordable Care Act to follow in Arkansas's example.
But a lot has happened in Arkansas since then. The Medicaid private option needs 75 percent support from the Arkansas legislature to continue each year, and it just narrowly received that support in 2014. The state last November also elected Hutchinson, who had previously refused to take a position on whether the state should continue the private option, which added an element of suspense to his Thursday morning speech.
After months of silence, Hutchinson provided a clear message — the state must keep the private option, though he will look for cost-saving reforms that gives Arkansas policymakers more flexibility to administer the program.
From a political standpoint, the important thing Thursday was Hutchinson's tone. He spoke candidly about the benefits of the private option — more people covered, a financial gain for the state's hospitals — and his concerns, namely how the state will afford the program when the 100 percent federal match eventually drops to 90 percent in a few years.
Also notable was his insistence that the state just can't just drop coverage for those who've gained it, and that the state's health-care industry can't tolerate ongoing uncertainty, year-to-year, whether coverage will be continued. Hutchinson called for a two-year extension of the private option in its current form, as a new task force will consider possible changes to the program.
"This avoids harm to the 200,000-plus in the private option, and it assures our hospitals and providers of financial stability," said Hutchinson, whose speech referenced several personal stories of those who've been aided by the coverage expansion. "The human side tugs at our heartstrings and is rightfully part of the debate," he said.
Those comments show the larger implications for Republican governors if the Supreme Court this summer overturns the health insurance subsidies provided through the federal-run ACA exchanges. That could disrupt new coverage for millions who'd no longer find health insurance affordable without subsidies, and it could be left to the states to fix the situation if Congress does nothing.
Whether three-fourths of the Arkansas legislature goes along with Hutchinson's plan is still a major unknown, according to the Arkansas Times' David Ramsey, who's reported extensively on the private option over the past two years.
I used to have good health insurance, but because of the orwellian-named "ACA", affordable health care has been placed beyond my reach. I am a single male, 30yo, unmarried, perfect health, fully employed and I make 32k per year. Before ACA, I had a great plan that was a PPO at $80 per month with a $1,200 deductible. It was a great plan and I loved it. Then my insurer told me that it wasn't good enough for George Soros (our real president), the Harvard Jews (who wrote the ACA) and the US Congress and I was forced to lose that policy. My insurer told me to keep my previous benefits and comply with Soros' ACA, I would have to switch to an HMO, pay $170 per month and have a $2,500 deductible. Needless to say, I couldn't afford that. So I went to the marketplace set up by ACA. The absolute cheapest policy I qualified for was a catastrophic-only policy for $120 per month with a $6,600 deductible! Insane! I can't afford that. That is the story of how Soroscare (Obamacare/ACA) placed health insurance beyond my reach.
ReplyDeleteWhat he doesn't say is what did the 200,000 have before ACA, and how would they be worse off than previously, if ACA was dropped.
ReplyDeleteWhat he is saying is that once you feed a person, it is your responsibility to feed them for life.
Wow, you were offered a plan for $170/mo? My subsidized plan would leave me paying $400/mo, with a $5000 deductible. I did the math. The average American spends $8200/year on health care. The CHEAPEST plan that I could find costs $9700/year, plus that $5000 deductible. Thus delivering to the Insurance Industry a gift of thousands a year. It is outrageous. And it is the health insurance industry that has driven up the cost of health care year by year for decades -- and then they got to write this legislation. Sickening.
ReplyDeleteAh, so you believe that only rich people should be able to see a doctor? EVERY other industrialized country has universal health care. We have private health insurance companies that make billions in profits. When Obama proposed that the U.S. catch up with the rest of the developed world and provide universal health care for all, he was side tracked into allowing the health insurance industry to write the ACA bill. And where would we get the money to pay for universal health care? Well, that new F-35 jet that doesn't work and won't have weapons for two more years would pay for health care for every man, woman and child in this country, without a cent going to the health insurance industry. We spend upwards of $2 trillion a year on our military industrial complex, when we have no enemies (except the ones we keep bombing). Or do you believe that once we start feeding the military industrial complex, we have to go on feeding them forever?
ReplyDeleteAre you truly that stupid or is it just that you can't read?
ReplyDeleteNowhere did I make a moral judgement on the rights or wrongs of ACA.
My belief systems are mine, and I do not feel any need or desire to share them with you.
I have no interest one way or the other in your healthcare system or in it's funding.
(You may wish to study healthcare systems in other countries before making suggestions)
I merely made a comment on initiating and sustaining any form of "payment"
Danegeld a poem by Rudyard Kipling.
It ends in the following words:
It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation,
For fear they should succumb and go astray;
So when you are requested to pay up or be molested,
You will find it better policy to say: --
"We never pay any-one Dane-geld,
No matter how trifling the cost;
For the end of that game is oppression and shame,
And the nation that plays it is lost!"