Arkansas lawmakers have given initial approval to Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s plan to keep and rework the state’s hybrid Medicaid expansion, but the vote indicates an uphill battle to fend off a defunding effort by opponents.
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Arkansas lawmakers are taking up Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s plan to keep and rework the state’s hybrid Medicaid expansion.
Both the House and Senate passed identical versions of the Arkansas Works bill Thursday. Legislators had developed an alternative managed fee-for-service bill that was not on the special session agenda. In letters to the governor, House Speaker Jeremy Gillam, R-Judsonia, and Senate President Pro Tem Jonathan Dismang, R-Beebe, said there is no consensus in either chamber on the latter proposal.
A House committee planned to take up an identical version of the bill Wednesday afternoon.
Hutchinson has proposed adding new restrictions to the program, including premiums for some participants, and renaming it “Arkansas Works”.
Collins argued that emergency room visits, which are typically costly, have dropped significantly since the state adopted the Medicaid expansion program. Created three years ago as an alternative to expanding Medicaid under the federal health law, the program is providing subsidized coverage to more than 250,000 people.
Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson has proposed keeping the program, which uses federal funds to purchase private insurance for thousands of low-income Arkansans.
The Republican governor said Friday that a minority of lawmakers shouldn’t be able to derail the Medicaid budget over their objections to the program, which uses federal funds to purchase private insurance for the poor. The program uses federal funds to purchase private insurance for low-income residents. Legislation outlining the proposed changes was expected to go before House and Senate committees Wednesday afternoon.
Arkansas lawmakers are returning to the state Capitol to take up the future of a hybrid Medicaid expansion that’s providing health coverage to more than 250,000 people.
Continuing it as Arkansas Works will require a simple-majority vote in each chamber to pass in the special session, but appropriating a new round of funding for it during the fiscal session will require a harder-to-achieve two-thirds majority vote in each chamber. The expansion was created three years ago as an alternative to expanding Medicaid under the federal health law.
Hutchinson also says his plan will encourage personal responsibility by requiring recipients who earn more than 100 percent of the federal poverty level to pay premiums of up to 2 percent of their income and will save money by eliminating 90-day coverage retroactivity.
Hutchinson said the [managed care] model is needed in order to produce savings when the state would begin sharing in the cost of Arkansas Works – 10% by 2020.
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The Republican governor on Tuesday issued the formal proclamation for the session after saying it would not include his proposal to shift some Medicaid services to managed care.
