State Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View, who voted for Medicaid expansion in 2013 and then voted against it this year, will have to defeat a foe of the expansion in the May 20 primary to return to the Legislature in 2015.
Phil Grace, director of technology for the Heber Springs School District, said he’s not sure what to expect if Irvin gets re-elected, but his own position on “the Obamacare Medicaid expansion” is clear.
“I will vote to repeal it if I am given the opportunity,”said Grace, of Heber Springs.
Arkansas’ “private-option program” uses federal funds to purchase private health insurance for low-income Arkansans who qualify. Others are shifted into more traditional Medicaid programs.
For the more than 100,000 Arkansans who have enrolled for health insurance through the program so far, Grace said he would be “fine with a dial-back approach” to notify them that their coverage will end within a year or so to give them time to look for other options.
Irvin said she decided to oppose funding for the private option this year for a handful of reasons, none of them related to next month’s primary.
She said one reason is that access to health-care providers in rural areas has been hurt because Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s reimbursements for physician specialists is below what primary-care doctors get for services provided to Medicaid patients and others who enroll in coverage through the state.
Another reason is the Obama administration changing requirements under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, she said.
Irvin noted she supported an unsuccessful proposal to cap enrollment in the program, effective June 30, and to only fund the program until March 1, 2015, to allow the next General Assembly to consider its options.
“I believe we need a transition out of this,” she said.
This primary is one of numerous Republican primaries for statewide and legislative seats in which the private option will be hotly contested. The issue deeply divided Republicans in the Legislature in the 2013 and 2014 sessions.
The expansion of the Medicaid program, approved by the Legislature last year, extends coverage to adults with incomes of up to 138 percent of the poverty level - $16,105 for an individual or $32,913 for a family of four.
An estimated 250,000 Arkansans are eligible for coverage. Enrollment began Oct. 1.
Opponents of the private option often call it Obamacare because funding was made possible by the Affordable Care Act of 2010. Supporters maintain it’s not Obamacare because it was created by Arkansans and the state obtained waivers from the federal government for the program.
Grace, 32, is seeking to oust Irvin in Senate District 18 - a sprawling district that includes all of Cleburne, Searcy and Stone counties and parts of Baxter, Faulkner, Fulton, Marion, Van Buren and White counties. He was a member of the Cleburne County Quorum Court from 2011-2013.
Two years ago, he lost a bid for a state House of Representatives seat in District 66 to Heber Springs Republican Josh Miller. That district includes parts of Cleburne, Faulkner and Van Buren counties.
Irvin, 43, has served in the Senate since 2011 and is the marketing director for her husband’s medical clinic.
She is one of eight members of one of the Legislature’s busier committees - the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee - and is chairman the Senate City, County and Local Affairs Committee.
No other candidates are seeking the Senate District 18 seat, so the winner of the primary will be uncontested in November’s general election.
While Grace is highlighting Irvin’s 2013 support for the private option, Irvin stresses what she calls her strong record of listening to constituents and making the best decisions for their interests. Irvin said she has a strong conservative voting record.
She cited her votes for a cornucopia of tax-cut bills that passed ranging from cuts in the state’s sales tax on manufacturers’ energy to reductions in the state’s sales tax on groceries. She also voted for a law banning most abortions after the 12th week of pregnancy and another outlawing most of them after the 20th week.
Last month, a federal judge permanently struck down part of the 2013 state law outlawing most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy but left intact other parts of the law requiring abortion candidates to have an abdominal ultrasound and be told the medical probability of the fetus’ survival if brought to term. Attorney General Dustin McDaniel on Friday filed an appeal of the judge’s ruling, defending the law.
Irvin said her 2015 plans include a push to cut the state’s sales tax on propane and other energy used to heat homes and to reduce businesses’ taxes for unemployment insurance.
Grace said he wants to lower or eliminate state income tax rates. If the tax is abolished, he would replace it with a larger sales tax. Grace also advocates lowering or eliminating fees for concealed-carry permits.
He said he would push for the Senate to provide a live-video stream of the proceedings of the Senate and its committees, as the House already does, and to require senators’ votes on bills in Senate committees to be recorded.
Irvin said it would take “a big financial investment” for the Senate to provide a live-video stream of the Senate and its committees.
“If the Senate decides to do that, that’s fine,” she said.
It’s estimated that it would cost the Senate several hundred thousand dollars, said Senate President Pro Tempore Michael Lamoureux, R-Russellville.
Irvin said roll call votes are already recorded on contentious bills in the committee of which she is chairman, and the votes are routinely recorded when a senator wants the tally.
Grace, who has worked for the Heber Springs School District for the past 10 years and previously worked for the Shirley School District for two years, said he started to consider a challenge to Irvin in spring 2013, after she voted for the private option. The thought wasn’t a secret, and Irvin “got wind of it” over the summer, he said.
That’s a vote for which “a lot of people felt betrayed” because Irvin told many people in their Senate district that she was opposed to the private option, he said.
Irvin said she was opposed to the private option last year before she “saw it was going to pass,” so she tried to improve it through amendments aimed at protecting small-business owners and creating health-savings accounts. After Sen. Eddie Joe Williams, R-Cabot, and Irvin agreed to vote for the funding measure in 2013, it cleared the Senate with 28 votes - one more than the 27 required for approval.
“I listened to a ton of people on this issue in my district,” said Irvin, adding that some hospitals are large employers in her district and the private option was aimed at reducing their uncompensated care costs when they were expecting Medicare reimbursement cuts.
Arkansas, Pages 15 on 04/13/2014