Search Results for: exchanges

Et Tu, Republicans? No Meaningful Tax Cuts For Arkansans

promises_made

For many weeks, the people of Arkansas have been led to believe that once the legislature passed Medicaid expansion, it would then produce significant tax relief. We have documented these assurances in our previous coverage -- and repeatedly emphasized that the cuts were in no way linked to Medicaid expansion as a matter of policy, but perhaps only as a matter of politics. Boy, were we right. As you probably know, the Senate signed off on funding for Medicaid expansion yesterday, signaling … [Read more...]

Five Arguments Against State Obamacare Exchanges

EXCHANGES

Yesterday, the state Senate completed a deal to fund Medicaid expansion in Arkansas. Today, they're considering a bill, HB1508, to setup state-run health insurance exchanges. Under Obamacare, states must either setup insurance exchanges or allow the federal government to do so. Two-thirds of states have declined to set one up themselves, thus leaving exchange creation to the feds. The latest paper from the Advance Arkansas Institute outlines five reasons why this is the wrong path for the state … [Read more...]

The Legislature’s Plan to Lock Arkansans Into Poverty

Medicaid state

The thinkers at Advance Arkansas Institute have released a new paper entitled, "How Medicaid Expansion (and the "Private Option") Will Lock Its Clients Into Poverty." The paper examines, among other things, how the healthcare plan being pushed through the legislature will trap the poor: Employers create jobs, and employers hire employees. The expansion of Medicaid will create large incentives for businesses both to reduce the work hours of their employees and to split full-time jobs into … [Read more...]

Senator Rapert Calls Again for “Private Option” Delay

medicaid expansion

Yesterday I reported that state Senator Jason Rapert announced (while attending AAI’s Monday town hall meeting in Conway) that he wanted the legislature to delay passage of the “private option” Medicaid expansion. Now the AP has picked up on the story. According to a new report, Rapert reiterated his calls for delay this morning at the Capitol, saying lawmakers should take three weeks off to go talk to their constituents and then reconvene. Talk to your constituents? What a great … [Read more...]

Speaker Carter: ‘We Have Always Been at War with Eastasia’

Private option is Obamacare

Yesterday afternoon, in an act of courage, Congressman Rick Crawford released a stellar press release condemning the “private option” or the “Arkansas Medicaid plan.” Crawford -- who I have sometimes disagreed with in the past -- could not be more right on this issue. In his release, he said: In my view, the current un-winnable situation in which state legislators find themselves will become significantly worse if they set up a government-funded private insurance program and are forced … [Read more...]

Horrible Medicaid “Private Option” Now Found Deficient by Former “Private Option” Analyst/Cheerleader

The "private option" in a picture.

I wrote last week that the air had been released from the Medicaid “private option” balloon and that it was time for conservative legislators to abandon it. Now Avik Roy, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, has landed another blow to the “private option” hopes of Governor Beebe and several Republican legislators. Roy has a column in Forbes today entitled “The Arkansas-Obamacare Medicaid Deal: Far Less Than It First Appeared.” The title is significant for two reasons. … [Read more...]

Obamacare Is Crumbling — But No One Told Mark Pryor

Pryor-Obama

Last week, the U.S. Senate passed a nonbinding resolution by 79-20 to repeal the Medical Device Tax. This tax, which went into effect in January, is scheduled to suck about $30 billion out of the economy over the next 10 years. The vote garnered significant bipartisan support: 34 Senate Democrats voted for the measure. Many of these Democrats -- including Arkansas’s son Mark Pryor -- voted for the original Obamacare bill, so the vote indicates a significant shift. It spells bad news for … [Read more...]

The State of Health Care “Reform” in Arkansas

medicaid expansion

Today I went down to the luxurious Capitol cafeteria to hear the Cato Institute’s Michael Cannon speak on the current state of Obamacare implementation in Arkansas. What I learned is that we are dangerously close to becoming part of the Obamacare monstrosity -- but there is hope that the beast can be stopped, and that should be every Arkansan's goal. The answer to stopping Obamacare sounds pretty simple, albeit politically tricky: 1. Don’t expand Medicaid & 2. Don’t create health … [Read more...]