House members will try again today to reach a deal on a private-option appropriation that can attract at least 75 votes in the 100-member chamber, state legislative leaders said.
The Republican-controlled House must decide the fate of the private-option appropriations bill before lawmakers can move on to settling the state’s spending priorities for fiscal 2015.
Gov. Mike Beebe has proposed a general revenue budget of about $5 billion for fiscal 2015, an increase of $105 million over current authorized levels.
The private-option funding measure authorizes the use of $915 million in federal Medicaid dollars to buy private health insurance for more than 100,000 poor Arkansans. Beebe said his proposed 2015 budget relies on about $89 million in savings from the private option.
Beebe spokesman Matt DeCample said Friday that the appropriation for the Department of Human Services’ Medical Services Division, which includes money for the private option, is the final hurdle before the budget process can move forward.
“It’s still a matter of getting the private option resolved. As soon as that happens, we’ll do the [Revenue Stabilization Act],” DeCample said.
The Senate has passed Senate Bill 111 by a 27-8 vote. That bill reauthorizes funding for the private option and is now awaiting House action. The Senate won’t meet today.
House Speaker Davy Carter, R-Cabot, said Friday that he did not have a timeline for resolving the impasse.
Last month, after the House rejected private-option funding four days in a row, Carter met with a group of members opposed to the measure to dislodge the logjam. To pass, the appropriation bill requires a three-fourths supermajority - 75 votes. It stalled with 71 votes in the latest attempt to pass it.
On Thursday, some lawmakers said a compromise might be reached if private-option supporters would agree to restrict enrollment in the program. Private-option opponents hope that setting a cutoff date each year for enrollment will slow or cap the number of participants.
Carter has said that compromise would not require an amendment to the private-option funding bill but would likely require an enrollment-restrictions waiver from the federal government.
The expanded Medicaid program extends private-option eligibility to adults with incomes of up to 138 percent of the poverty level - $16,105 for an individual and $32,913 for a family of four.
Supporters of the program have said ending funding for the private option would strip health insurance from tens of thousands of people who have recently enrolled in insurance plans. Opponents argue that the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will add to the national debt and that the state will not be able to afford the 10 percent cost of the program that it will be required to pick up beginning in 2020.
The Department of Human Services has said 127,051 Arkansans have been approved for coverage under the expanded Medicaid program, or just more than half of the 250,000 who were estimated to be eligible for it. Of those who have been approved for coverage, 93,966 had been enrolled, according to the most recent figures released by the department.
Legislative leaders had previously said they hoped to wind down the legislative fiscal session by Friday. But Carter expressed reservations that the House will meet that deadline.
“I don’t know if it’s possible now, at this point,” Carter said.
Senate President Pro Tempore Michael Lamoureux, R-Russellville, said the rest of his chamber’s business mostly relies on the House resolving its private-option gridlock. Only a few other supplemental appropriation bills are still pending, he said.
He said he’s not sure that the Legislature could wrap up its business by Friday.
“I guess it’s possible. … I still don’t know exactly what the House is intending. At this point it seems difficult to me,” Lamoureux said.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 03/03/2014