Category Archives: Health care

Beebe defends his fellow governor

Health care, State government
Mike Beebe
Govs. Mike Beebe, left, and Mike Huckabee share memories at the 20th anniversary celebration of the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement.

By Steve Brawner, © 2018 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Former Govs. Mike Huckabee and Mike Beebe have similar names but different personalities and outlooks, but one area where they agree is this: Being governor is “the best job in the world.”

That’s how Huckabee described it during a joint appearance Monday during a 20-year celebration of the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement. Beebe immediately agreed.

It was more than a reunion of two former governors. When Huckabee was in office, Beebe was the most powerful state senator, and they worked together to pass bills such as the legislation creating ARKids First, which provides health insurance to lower-income children.

Also on hand were two of the state’s four other still-living governors: current Gov. Asa Hutchinson, whom Beebe defeated in 2010, and Jim Guy Tucker. The other two are Bill Clinton and David Pryor. Continue reading Beebe defends his fellow governor →

This could make the legislative session even crazier

Health care, Legislature, Politics, State government

By Steve Brawner, © 2018 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Things get crazy when 135 legislators gather at the Capitol to consider thousands of bills in three months’ time. Sometimes something happens that makes things crazier.

This upcoming legislative session, it could be the same issue that’s caused much of the craziness the past almost six years: Arkansas Works. This time, there’s a special reason why.  Continue reading This could make the legislative session even crazier →

For now, Arkansas bends the cost curve

Health care, State government

By Steve Brawner, © 2018 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

When policymakers discuss health care, they often talk about “bending the cost curve” rather than “cutting costs.” That’s because costs have increased so much, for so long, and seemingly so inevitably, that anything beyond “bending” sounds unrealistic.

In recent days, Arkansas has made two announcements indicating it actually is bending the cost curve, at least temporarily. In fact, in one way it even cut costs.

On Aug. 3, the Arkansas Insurance Department announced next year’s rate increase requests made by insurers on the insurance exchange. That’s the online marketplace for individuals and small businesses created by the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare. It’s where I buy my family’s insurance. Continue reading For now, Arkansas bends the cost curve →

Has Obamacare already been repealed?

Health care, Politics, U.S. Congress

By Steve Brawner, © 2018 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Remember last year when congressional Republicans failed to repeal Obamacare after talking about doing so for years? It turns out they may have succeeded, fully or partly, by acting indirectly.

In December, Congress passed the Tax Cut and Jobs Act, which all six members of Arkansas’ congressional delegation supported. The legislation ended Obamacare’s penalty for failing to comply with the individual mandate to buy health insurance. The penalty goes away at the end of this year.

To understand why that’s important, you have to look back to 2012, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Affordable Care Act – Obamacare – was constitutional in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius. The court ruled that Congress could not compel individuals to purchase insurance. However, it said the mandate’s penalty was a “tax,” which Congress can enact. Chief Justice John Roberts, appointed by President George W. Bush, wrote that opinion. That’s how the individual mandate survived.

Now that there’s no tax, a Texas-led coalition of 20 states, including Arkansas under Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, is suing the federal government in hopes of having the entire law declared unconstitutional. The lawsuit says that without the individual mandate, the law is now “an irrational regulatory regime governing an essential market.”  Continue reading Has Obamacare already been repealed? →