Private option a divider in race for Senate’s District 17

An architect of Arkansas’ version of the Medicaid expansion is running for the state Senate in District 17, but has two opponents, including one who opposes government-funded private health-insurance policies for poor Arkansans.

Rep. John Burris, R-Harrison, who is one of the three legislative architects of the “private-option” program; assisted-living home owner Scott Flippo of Mountain Home, who opposed the legislation; and Mountain Home Mayor David Osmon, who favors the private option, are all running to replace Sen. Johnny Key, R-Mountain Home.

If no one wins a majority of the votes in the May 20 primary, the top two vote-getters will advance to the June 10 primary runoff.

The Republican nominee in Senate District 17 faces no challenger on the Nov. 4 general election ballot.

Key decided in late February not to file for re-election after he applied for the vice chancellor for government relations job at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. He’s one of three finalists.

Flippo is making his first bid for elected office and says he became interested a few weeks before Key opted not to run. He said unhappiness with Key’s vote for the private option led him to consider running.

Burris has been in the state House of Representatives since 2009, is chairman of the House Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee and is on leave as political director for U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton’s U.S. Senate campaign.

Osmon has been mayor of Mountain Home since 2007.

Flippo, 34, said his business experience makes him the best candidate for Senate District 17 and that Burris is “a career politician” who supports a proposed constitutional amendment to extend terms of lawmakers.

Flippo has owned Flippo’s Carefree Living in Bull Shoals since 2003 when he purchased the assisted-living center from his mother.

Burris, 28, said he has a proven conservative record and has represented north-central Arkansas well. He notes that he supported legislation requiring voters to present a photo ID to cast a ballot, barring most abortions after the 12th week of pregnancy and granting more than $300 million in tax cuts, including cuts in the sales tax in groceries and individual income taxes.

He said serving six years in the House isn’t “a career,” and that he opposes a proposed constitutional amendment to allow lawmakers to serve up to 16 years in either legislative chamber, up from 14 years in the House and Senate. Burris voted in 2013 to refer the proposal to voters, but said he has decided, after studying it closely, to vote against it when it appears on the November ballot.

The amendment also would prohibit direct political contributions from corporations and unions and require that lawmakers be out of office for two years before they could become lobbyists; there’s currently a 1-year limit. It also would create an independent citizens commission that would set salaries for lawmakers and other elected officials.

Osmon, 73, said he’s running for the state Senate because he’s not running for re-election for mayor, and “I didn’t like the idea of going home and doing nothing.”

“For me, it is something to keep my mind sharp and to keep me challenged, and I like to do things that help people, and hopefully I will be able to do that if I am elected,” he said.

This primary is one of numerous Republican primaries for statewide and legislative seats in which the private option will be hotly debated. 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. More than 100,000 people have obtained health-insurance coverage through the program since enrollment began Oct. 1.

Opponents of the private option often call it Obamacare because funding was made possible by the Patient Protection and 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.

The federal government will pay the full cost of covering the newly eligible enrollees until 2017, when states will begin paying 5 percent of the cost. The state’s share will then rise each year until it reaches 10 percent in 2020.

Flippo said the private option “was a mistake for Arkansas.”

“The first thing I would like to do is vote to defund the private option,” he said.

Flippo said he would be willing to give private-option participants a year to find another way to finance their health-insurance coverage.

Flippo said he doesn’t believe Arkansas will be able to afford its $90 million to $100 million estimated cost of the private option in 2020.

Burris said the private option “was the right thing for the state and the right thing for people.”

He said he’s continuing to evaluate the program and wants to continue pushing for conservative features such as the creation of health saving accounts and requiring recipients to pay for part of the program.

Burris said the state could pay for its share of the program through the elimination of state funds allocated for uncompensated care and increased insurance-premium tax proceeds from the sale of more insurance through the private-option program.

Osmon said the Legislature made “the right choice” in voting to continue the private option another year. The vote will help hospitals reduce their uncompensated care costs as well as helping the state to save up to $90 million in state funds in fiscal 2015 because of the increased federal funds.

“Will it be the right decision to make next year? I think we need to do the math again and make the best decision again,” he said.

Osmon said he wants to work on cutting the state’s individual income tax rates to create more jobs. The increased tax revenue from the increased jobs and possible spending cuts could finance the tax cuts, he said.

He said he also would work on improving the state’s correctional system through increased rehabilitation programs, work-release centers and possibly the creation of more boot camps.

Flippo said he wants to lower individual and corporate income taxes to make Arkansas a more attractive place for employers to locate businesses. He said he favors “shifting over to a [higher] sales tax in order to eliminate the income tax, or implementing a flat tax across all income tax brackets.”

Burris said he would work on improving the state’s health-care system, cutting the state’s individual income taxes and continuing to slow the growth in state government spending to help pay for the tax cuts.

Flippo said that Burris supports the Common Core national education standards because Burris voted for a 2011 law that implements the standards.

Burris said Flippo is misrepresenting the language in the bill, which “simply allowed [the] Department of Education to develop procedure, training and testing standards consistent with the national standards.”

Flippo said he would vote to repeal Common Core because “the decision-making ability is best left with local parents and school boards.”

Burris said he opposes Common Core at this point because “anything top down typically doesn’t work, especially in education, and that seems to be what Common Core is.” He said he would have to review the details of legislation repealing Common Core before deciding whether he’d vote for it.

Osmon said that Common Core was approved by the state Board of Education in 2010.

“I don’t think legislators should be deciding how to educate children. They ought to set the parameters and let the state Board of Education determine the curriculum,” he said.

Campaign finance analysis provided by Lisa Hammersly of the Democrat-Gazette.

Arkansas, Pages 13 on 04/20/2014

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