Brawner: Prison Reform A Good Step; Medicaid Next?

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.

 

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.