Brummett Quizzes Sen. Sanders On Private Option, Healthcare Reform Fate
by January 4, 2015 9:27 am 163 views
One of the leading architects of the private option, Sen. David Sanders, R-Little Rock, says his goal in the upcoming legislative session – and beyond – is to make healthcare in Arkansas more “pro-market,” not “pro-business.”
In a wide-ranging policy interview with Arkansas Democrat-Gazette columnist John Brummett, also a Talk Business & Politics contributor, Sanders delved deeply into his efforts to alter the private option, push a state payment reform initiative further, to seek broader waivers of the Affordable Care Act, and to transform Arkansas’ overall health insurance marketplace.
“I get asked all the time, ‘Are you pro-business or pro-market?’ I’m pro-market,” said Sanders. “What I want to do is look at a way where we can sort of create a better market in Arkansas for healthcare. It means attacking the public side, the private side, the self-insured side, small business, the individual marketplace – all those things.”
Arkansas has been using Medicaid expansion money from the ACA to supplement health insurance for lower income citizens in a program known as the private option. Passed and funded by the narrowest margins in the 2013 and 2014 legislative sessions, there is more perceived resistance to the plan with the new GOP majorities in the incoming 90th General Assembly.
Sanders, who wants to see more conservative changes to the private option in the January session, says the PO is just a component of his goal to make sure that the pool of insurance participants and players is as broad and competitive as possible. He argues that under this scenario, health insurance and health care will thrive.
“You started by asking, ‘Is it conservative to spend this [Medicaid expansion] money?’ and the answer is, ‘no’ unless you’re looking to transform the system. Which transforming the system means more transparency, more coverage and to do so in a way that lowers costs and increases quality and gets people engaged with healthcare,” Sanders said.
“If you can’t make a judgment on quality and cost, then that’s really not a market,” he added.
Watch excerpts of the Sanders’ interview with Brummett and Brummett’s conversation with TB&P host Roby Brock in the video below. The full Sanders-Brummett interview is also posted below.