Democratic Party Rips House Minority Leader On Medicaid Comment

The Democratic Party of Arkansas accused Republicans of not caring about Medicaid recipients based on a Twitter post from House Minority Leader Rep. John Burris (R-Harrison).

Burris says the accusation is “pandering and playing divisive politics and class warfare.”

On Thursday night, Burris tweeted, “Romney was spot on. Very poor do have safety net. Don’t believe it? Come look at our state’s Medicaid budget. Billions…”

His message was in response to GOP Presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney’s comments in a CNN interview in which he said “he was not very concerned about the poor” because they have “an ample safety net,” referring to government programs like Medicaid.

Romney has since said he made a “misstatement” of his position and that he wanted to help Americans “get into the middle class and grow the middle class.”

DPA spokeswoman Candace Martin linked Burris’ comment to an admission “that Republicans don’t care about the elderly or Arkansas families who rely on Medicaid.”

“Which Arkansas child or senior would Burris want to take off Medicaid?” Martin asked in a press release. “Over 750,000 Arkansans rely on Medicaid to ensure their family can lead a healthy life. For Burris to criticize Arkansans for wanting to keep their family healthy is disgraceful.”

In a follow-up interview Martin defended lumping all Republicans in with Burris’ comment.

“I think John Burris is the minority leader for the House Republican caucus and therefore serves as a spokesperson for House Republicans,” Martin said.

BURRIS RESPONDS
Burris spoke with Talk Business editor Roby Brock in response to the Democrats’ press release. Here is a transcript of the interview:

Brock: What’s your response to the Democratic Party accusation?

Rep. John Burris: I think its very, very sad that we can’t have a legitimate policy discussion without the Democratic party pandering to and playing such a bitter game of politics, a silly game.

What it all boils down to is this. Whether you think it’s right or wrong, fair or unfair, good or bad, putting all that aside, our Medicaid program in the state of Arkansas is on the path to absolutely bankrupt our state. The Governor has proposed a 16.5% increase this year — 16.5%, a $114 million increase — and that’s on top of completely depleting the trust fund that totals almost $400 million. And multiply all that by 3 because of our federal match. And that’s just this year.

Next year, it’ll be even worse.  With the Medicaid expansion of health care reform, you’re adding over 200,000 [Arkansans] to the rolls. You’re going to have over half of our citizens in our state receiving benefits from the state. It’s absolutely unsustainable.

The Democratic Party is in charge. They’ve been in charge for 150 years. They either need to come out and tell us how they’re going to solve the problem, which tax they’re going to increase to pay for it, or tell us which service they’re going to cut. They’re the ones that have been increasing the programs. They’re the ones that have been pandering and playing divisive politics and class warfare. It’s time for them to get serious and own the system that they have created and tell us how they’re going to pay for it. If they’re honest, that’s what they’ll do. Not sit there and send out silly press releases that play to the worst aspects of human nature that are divisive and not problem solving.

Brock: Gov. Beebe is in the midst of proposing some changes to Medicaid. Do you think that is moving in the right direction?

Burris: I do appreciate the Governor having a serious discussion about reforming and changing the way we’re doing it. Specifically, on what they’re proposing, it’s been very fluid and very changing. I think there are a lot of good ideas out there. We are working on some very good ideas inside the Republican caucus for how we can do some additional things differently that can potentially save money. I think its going to be a discussion that, even if it’s not one we can have in the next few weeks of the fiscal session, it will dominate the discussion in the next few years.

Brock: Can you give me a hint of what you are talking about in your caucus, or to ask the question a different way: what would you do differently if you were in charge?

Burris: We’ve got to change the way we do business in Arkansas. The real problem, the real solution to get people off Medicaid rolls is to give them a job, make them able to self-sustain themselves without government assistance.

As long as we’re at the bottom of the list when it comes to business tax climate and competitiveness with our surrounding states, we’re never going to get the jobs that we need, we’re never going to have the economic development we need to actually change this problem. So if I had to pick one solution – that’s 90% of the problem – that the people are receiving the benefit because they don’t have another option. You have to give them other options.

On top of that, this is hitting around the edges, but we can do some things like fraud and abuse reform, the way we monitor that and track it. We’re working on some really good ideas with what other states are doing in regards to that. Also, the way we pay and reimburse for certain treatments. There’s lots of options. The core of it is we’ve got to have some real economic development in our state to give people a chance.