Arkansas Senate Majority Leader: Managed care debate separate from Arkansas Works funding

The Arkansas State Senate Majority Leader said he expects to reach the 75% threshold for funding the governor’s Arkansas Works plan passed last week in a special session, and he sees the looming debate over managed care as a “separate and apart” issue that may not be resolved until 2017.

Appearing on this week’s edition of Talk Business & Politics, State Sen. Jim Hendren, R-Gravette, who co-chaired the Health Reform Legislative Task Force and steered Arkansas Works through the Senate chamber, said the policy debate over the Medicaid expansion plan was over for now and it’s time to move forward with the budget process.

“We came to a bill that not everyone was thrilled about, but everyone was happy with – or most people were happy with, 70-71% are happy with – so that’s a good start. Any time you can get that kind of margin on a piece of legislation that really affects so many people and so many dollars, that’s a victory,” said Hendren.

He said opponents of Arkansas Works – some of who have vowed to continue to fight against the plan through the appropriations process – are setting a dangerous precedent “for the state, for the budget, for the hospitals, and for the thousands of people who are involved in this.”

“I think once people see that, they’ll understand that it’s probably not the one to start blocking appropriations on. Obviously, you can have your say on policy, which we did this week. You can voice your opposition to the program. But to really take the step of shutting down the Department of Human Services because you’re opposed to that policy, I think when people see the ramifications of that, we’ll get the votes,” he noted.

When asked if opponents of Arkansas Works may be given a chance to vote exclusively on funding for the program, Hendren said he doubted the DHS budget would be voted on in piecemeal fashion.

“I think what we do is we do what we’ve always done which we fund the agencies to implement the policy that’s been passed by the General Assembly. It’s a dangerous precedent to start letting people start stripping and pulling and manipulating the budget because they’re unhappy with the policy,” said Hendren. “Members are going to have to make a decision. Do they really feel strongly enough about defeating this policy that they’re willing to basically refuse to appropriate the money for that agency.”

Gov. Asa Hutchinson planned on pushing for a managed care proposal to find an estimated $1.4 billion in savings in the traditional Medicaid program in the recent special session. But a consensus was not there according to legislative leaders and a bipartisan group of lawmakers floated an alternative plan called Diamondcare that could achieve $1 billion in savings.

The governor decided not to include the managed care debate on the special session call leaving open the possibility that it could be dealt with in another special session. Hendren said he’s not so sure the managed care debate doesn’t wait until the regular session in 2017.

“The good news is we agree there’s going to be some savings and there’s some disagreement about how we get there. I think that debate is separate and should be separate and apart from the debate about funding Medicaid expansion. Whether we have Medicaid expansion or not, if we find a way to save a billion to a billion-four ($1.4 billion) out of traditional Medicaid and also improve the quality of services, we certainly should all agree that’s the right path forward,” Hendren said.

Watch his full interview in the video below.