State Senate Republican Leader Jim Hendren, R-Sulphur Springs, said Friday that his meetings with federal officials in Washington on Friday about possible waivers for taxpayer-funded health insurance, including the private option, were "productive."
"They understand the situation in Arkansas, and they were receptive to what the governor wants to do," Hendren said in a telephone interview after returning from Washington.
"He is still working on policy and trying to make sure he has a plan that will work for Arkansas," said Hendren, who is a nephew of Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
Hutchinson spokesman J.R. Davis declined to comment about Hutchinson's meeting Friday in Washington with U.S. Health and Human Services Department Secretary Sylvia Burwell.
Hutchinson has said he'll give a major speech Thursday about "health care reform," including whether he wants the Republican-controlled Legislature to reauthorize the private option.
Davis said the speech will likely be at 10 a.m. Thursday at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock. UAMS leaders have supported the private option.
On his trip to Washington, Hutchinson also was accompanied by House Public Health, Labor and Welfare Committee Chairman Kelley Linck, R-Flippin; state Department of Human Services Director John Selig; and Surgeon General Greg Bledsoe, Davis said.
Linck said he was encouraged by what he heard from federal officials.
"I expect [the governor] will be able to put together a plan, and I'm encouraged by their willingness to work with him," Linck said.
Both Hendren and Linck declined to provide details about the discussions at these meetings.
Hutchinson said Thursday that he has talked to some other governors about their experiences in seeking waivers from the federal government, and "it is a changing climate on waivers."
"I just want to have the most current information," he said, adding that the trip would help him decide whether to ask the Republican-controlled Legislature to reauthorize the private option.
The private option is an issue that deeply divided Republicans on the campaign trail and during the 2013 and 2014 legislative sessions.
Critics call the private option "Obamacare" because funding for the program is made available under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that was signed into law by Obama in 2010.
Supporters say the private option isn't "Obamacare" because the private-option program was created and run by Arkansans and differs substantially from the federal model. Arkansas had to get federal waivers in order to use federal Medicaid funds for the private-option program.
The program extends insurance coverage to adults who have incomes of up to 138 percent of the poverty level -- $16,105 for an individual, for instance, or $32,913 for a family of four. More than 180,000 Arkansans have enrolled in private health insurance through the private-option program, according to the state Department of Human Services.
Federal Medicaid funds will pay for 100 percent of the program until fiscal 2017, when the state will pick up 5 percent of the cost. The state's cost will gradually increase to 10 percent by fiscal 2020.
Last week, Hutchinson said he intended to consult with federal officials about how much flexibility they'll grant the state for "overall health care reform."
"If we are having a private-option or taxpayer-funded health insurance, people either should be working, ... in training or going to school in some fashion. Those are the incentives and help to get ahead in life and move up the economic ladder rather than an incentive to say 'Hey, my life is grand,'" Hutchinson told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette last week. "This is where I want to press the limits of what kind of waivers we can get [from the federal government]."
Hutchinson noted that 40 percent of private-option participants report having zero income.
In the 2013 and 2014 sessions, the Legislature barely reached the three-fourths vote threshold required to authorize funding for the program.
Two staff members in the governor's office voted to fund the private option when they served in the Legislature.
They are Chief of Staff Michael Lamoureux, a former Republican state senator from Russellville, and Budget Director Duncan Baird, a former Republican state representative from Lowell. In May, Baird lost a primary bid for state treasurer to fellow Republican and now state Treasurer Dennis Milligan after Milligan sharply criticized him for voting for the private option.
With Hutchinson out of state for parts of Thursday and Friday, Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin, a Republican from Little Rock, served as acting governor for the first time.
"I didn't take any specific actions as governor," Griffin said.
While some acting governors have used their temporary powers in ways that upset the actual governor, Griffin said Hutchinson won't have any unwelcome surprises. "It is understood that he doesn't have to worry about me," he said.
Davis said Griffin has repeatedly said that "Gov. Hutchinson is the governor, the governor and the governor."
Griffin is included in the governor's staff meetings, "so the governor thinks the lieutenant governor is someone who can really help with our mission with taxes and everything else," Davis said.
Metro on 01/17/2015