The leader of the state's Republican Party, which has vaulted to political dominance in Arkansas in part by its members campaigning against national Democratic issues like the health care law, said Arkansas benefits greatly from its politically contentious Medicaid expansion program.
At a forum Tuesday at the Governor's Mansion with the head of the state's Democratic Party, Republican Party Chairman Doyle Webb agreed with his counterpart in embracing the Medicaid expansion, an initiative to insure poor people that was made possible by the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
The expansion has been rebranded as Arkansas Works by Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson. Arkansas Works, which divided Republican legislators during a special session to revise it as well as funding it in the ongoing fiscal session, uses federal dollars to pay for private health insurance for more than 200,000 poorer Arkansans.
During Tuesday's event before the Political Animals Club of Little Rock, Webb praised Hutchinson for his work on cutting taxes, improving education and helping improve health care opportunities.
"Yes, it's time that we take advantage of offerings from the federal government," Webb said. "Whether it's a highway program ... whether it's health care, if it's offered from the federal government, then we should seize upon it to help the quality of life of our people."
The chairman of the Democratic Party of Arkansas, Vince Insalaco, said it was "funny" that Arkansas Republicans are embracing what was called the private option, suggesting that support for the measure was used against Democrats in past elections.
Insalaco also cheered Hutchinson's efforts to maintain the program, which is anticipated to cost Arkansas taxpayers $43 million in fiscal 2017 and will require a 10 percent match from Arkansas taxpayers by 2020.
"My, oh my, what a difference two years makes. Two years ago, we finished the [campaign] cycle, and we thought, 'Oh, my God, the Democrats are dead.' ... All because of that horrible thing called the private option," Insalaco said.
"There's been an incredible Jesus moment that happened in the Republican Party. ... They read the New Testament and found out that 37 miracles were attributed to Jesus and 34 of them are about health care. ... Or they just realized in order to save Arkansas' budget, and our school system, that the private option, or Arkansas Works, whatever we're calling it this time around, is a good thing."
In the past, Webb said the state party did not have a platform position on the private option, in part, because the program was created by the combined forces of Democrats, including Gov. Mike Beebe, and some Republican legislators in 2013.
After Tuesday's event, Webb said Arkansas is trending conservative and Republican, and that the "conservative spin" Hutchinson gave to Arkansas Works -- through work referrals and copays -- makes for good policy.
Many Republican lawmakers voted against Arkansas Works and funding it, but Webb said he respected the opposition to the program from some in his party and stopped short of saying that the Medicaid expansion was not endorsed by the party.
"Well, it has now passed. It is law. It is funded. And it's a conservative method of taking advantage of a federal offering and putting a conservative spin on it," Webb said. "The majority of the majority chose to go in this direction and certainly I support the majority of the majority, and I certainly support the minority who has opposed it."
Metro on 05/04/2016