CONWAY — Arkansas' health care system and its budget will face turmoil if state lawmakers don't keep the state's hybrid Medicaid expansion, Gov. Asa Hutchinson warned at a town hall Tuesday aimed at rallying support for the program.
The Republican said he will release in the coming days draft legislation for his plan to keep and rework the state's expansion, which uses federal funds to purchase private insurance for low-income residents. Hutchinson has proposed adding new restrictions to the program, which covers more than 250,000 people.
Lawmakers are expected to convene April 6 for a special session on the program's future, and Hutchinson said the state would face dire consequences if the expanded coverage is dropped.
"If we ended it, it creates turmoil in the Arkansas health care marketplace," Hutchinson told about 150 people gathered for the meeting at Central Baptist College. "Secondly, it would be a huge budget gap presently and would create turmoil within the Arkansas budget."
The hybrid expansion was crafted three years ago by Hutchinson's Democratic predecessor and Republican legislative leaders as an alternative to expanding Medicaid under the federal health law. But Republicans, who hold a majority in both chambers, have been sharply divided over the expanded coverage since it was created in 2013.
Hutchinson has proposed adding new restrictions, including requiring some participants to pay premiums and mandating abled-bodied unemployed beneficiaries be referred to job training.
The governor told reporters he will ask lawmakers to consider the reworked program separately from his proposal to have private companies manage Medicaid services for the mentally ill and developmentally disabled. The managed care proposal faces resistance from Democrats, who have strongly supported the hybrid expansion.
Hutchinson said the managed care legislation will include a "bill of rights" for Medicaid providers and patients.
Read Wednesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.