LITTLE ROCK — Gov. Mike Beebe on Wednesday urged Arkansans to learn more about Medicaid expansion and to talk with their lawmakers, though he said he isn’t intentionally pushing people to back the idea that is opposed by some Republican legislators.
Also Wednesday, Beebe discussed the possibility of the expansion for the first time with recently elected House Speaker-designee Davy Carter, R-Cabot.
While speaking to the West Little Rock Rotary Club in the morning and to the Farm Bureau’s annual meeting in Hot Springs in the afternoon, Beebe urged attendees to educate themselves on the topic.
“Now, I think it’s a nobrainer, but we’ve got folks up there [in Little Rock] that don’t like anything that came out of Washington and some of them have got blinders on their face,” Beebe said. “You educate yourself on this, don’t believe what I’m saying. Go check it out, use your common sense. Make up your own mind and then tell your own state [representative], your own state senator.”
Beebe told reporters after the Farm Bureau event that he wasn’t intending to motivate either group to support the expansion.
“It’s a topic that people want me to talk about because they want to know more about it, they want to understand more,” he said. “You know me, I sometimes don’t know what I’m going to talk about until I get up.”
Opting to expand eligibility for the state Medicaid program through the 2010 federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act would add up to 250,000 people to the Medicaid rolls who earn up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level. Beebe said the expansion also would address the issue of patients who cannot pay for their treatment, referred to as uncompensated care.
“It’ll save a bunch of their hospitals, particularly in rural areas and it’ll provide the working poor health insurance,” Beebe said.
The $5 billion state Medicaid program, which has 780,000 enrollees, could potentially see cuts to services starting in July unless money is found to fill a potential gap of $298 million. The Department of Human Services, which oversees Medicaid, has said that to avoid making cuts to children’s services, programs affecting the elderly and disabled will be cut. But expanding Medicaid eligibility would save $44 million in state revenue immediately because the federal government would cover the cost of some current enrollees, an amount similar to the proposed savings from cutting nursing care.
“That is an issue, and you all need to be aware of that issue. You may have loved ones directly affected by that,” Beebe said.
Republicans now hold a majority in the House and Senate and some have been cool to the idea. Although the federal government would shoulder the cost for the first three years between 2017 and 2020, the state will gradually assume responsibility for 10 percent of the cost for the new recipients — a burden some Republicans say the state may be unable to carry.
It would take 75 votes in the House and 27 votes in the Senate to pass an appropriation bill authorizing the expansion. Neither party has enough seats in either chamber to make a decision alone.
After the Rotary Club meeting, Beebe told reporters that he had a “good conversation” Wednesday with Carter about Medicaid, but said everyone needed more information about the potential changes to the program.
“We both agree we’re happy leaving it where it is or we’re happy making the change if everybody thinks we should, but no decision could be made until we educate more of our folks — including [Carter] — with what does it mean, what’s the difference, what’s the difference with the partnership that we’re currently proceeding under and what’s the difference if the state does it,” Beebe said.
Sen. Michael Lamoureux, R-Russellville, who will lead the chamber in 2013 and 2014, was also invited to the meeting. He said later he couldn’t attend.
The governor said he believes more Republicans are open to the expansion than before the election.
“I’m not naive about the fact that some of them campaigned against it and wouldn’t change their mind no matter what — it’s just a question of how many,” he said.
Lamoureux said by phone later that he doesn’t think either the Democratic or Republican parties have united around a single plan.
“The goal is a bipartisan legislative plan,” Lamoureux said. “Anything other than that will not pass.”
Lamoureux said legislators would not be able to debate until all of the facts were gathered.
He questioned how Medicaid could expand while simultaneously paying for the estimated shortfall, but added that “we’re still a long way away” from a decision.
Carter did not immediately return phone messages seeking comment Wednesday afternoon.
Arkansas, Pages 11 on 11/29/2012