Brawner: Prison Reform A Good Step; Medicaid Next?
by March 27, 2011 7:00 pm 105 views
Arkansas News Bureau columnist Steve Brawner compares the state’s efforts to reform prisons with future efforts towards Medicaid.
He’s complimentary of the Governor’s efforts to make changes to the state’s prison system and sentencing reforms.
The reforms represent a revolutionary idea — actually cutting real government spending instead of nibbling around the edges. Legislators deserve a pat on the back for making the very grown-up decision that the state’s resources are not unlimited and that it shouldn’t spend what it doesn’t have.They’ll need more support when a parolee who would have been in prison under the old system murders someone. When that inevitably happens, those 14 House members and other opponents will have their I-told-you-sos ready, though they still won’t explain where they would have found that $875 million.
Brawner wonders if legislators and the Governor can find similar consensus on changes to the state’s Medicaid system, which is about a year and a half away from a major fiscal crisis.
Like prison reform, this idea would create a lot of opposition. But unlike prison reform, that opposition would not go away. One in four Arkansans is on Medicaid, and that’s a lot of voters. Medical providers would claim that they already aren’t compensated enough for the care they provide Medicaid patients — and they would have a point.But as with the state’s prison system, Medicaid costs are rising so fast that they’ll drown the budget in red ink. That is, unless somebody does something more than just talk about it.
You can read more of Brawner’s thoughts at this link.