The “Private Option” Is Ending! DHS Says So!
It’s not been a great legislative session for conservatives opposed to the “private option” Medicaid expansion program, but a bill by Rep. Donnie Copeland about to become law is one bright spot.
From Arkansas Online:
The state will have to start paying 5 percent of the cost of the program in 2017, and its share will eventually increase to 10 percent in 2020, when Gov. Asa Hutchinson says the state’s cost would be more than $200 million
In a 21-7 vote, the Arkansas Senate sent House Bill 1363 by Rep. Donnie Copeland, R-North Little Rock, back to the House. The Senate-approved version includes an amendment adding a co-sponsor to the bill; the House will need to approve the change before it goes to the governor.
The Department of Human Services would be required under the bill to notify all people enrolled in the program at the date of their renewal or reassessment for enrollment that the program and its health insurance coverage will end on Dec. 31, 2016.
The department also would be required to notify a person enrolled in the program on or after the effective date of the bill that the program and its health insurance coverage will end on Dec. 31, 2016. The bill would become effective 90 days after the Legislature adjourns if it’s enacted into law.
Now, I’m not exactly certain that the “private option” will be ending at the end of 2016 (as some Republicans are saying). However, this bill would at least apply some pressure to Department of Human Services bureaucrats and state legislators to end the program, because, you know … DHS will be sending out letters saying the “private option” is ending.
This bill will also make it harder for some legislators and bureaucrats next year to claim they never said the program was ending. (In the recent past, private option defenders have regularly resorted to the argument that it would be cruel to end the program without sufficient notice to enrollees.)
So, it’s official! The “private option” is ending! Who told me? Arkansas DHS bureaucrats!
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The notice to ACA policies is just another effort to sow uncertainty into a group of people
That never had health insurance . This seems to be just another example of mean spirtednes
Toward people that needed some he or legislation
lp. Many of the newly insured probably have never seen a doctor. I have two friends that died with lung cancer that were in this situation. Both were in stage 4 and died less than 30 days after their first medical visit. This has to be the most self serving legisture on record . It appears that the governor is using the legisture as the straw man to achieve the passage of bad policy and avoid responsibility or credit for promises made before the election. He does not have the character to veto the bills that have no justification. This is the only group change rules to hire people that do not meet the
regulations for hire, or to favor a cause that benefits a specific group or person.
I am sorry what happened to your friends, but Arkansas cannot afford The ACA in the long run. Medicaid expansion will come back to bite Arkansas in a few short years and “Obamacare” is still an absolute joke. I am an Insurance agent. I deal with the system daily. Presently, I need to enroll several of my members on a ACA “Obamacare” plan but the website has been inoperative for 4 days! Tying our Medical coverage to the IRS is an absolute nightmare as well. I know that our Medical system was not perfect, but prior to “Obamacare”, no one was denied coverage at hospitals. We need to throw out “Obamacare” and Medicaid expansion and start over, allowing private enterprise and competition to come up with solutions. We also need to make sure that people like your friends get coverage and do not “fall through the cracks”…