Brawner: Arkansas’ Bipartisan Medicaid Fix

Arkansas News Bureau columnist Steve Brawner opines on the bipartisan Medicaid/private option health insurance fix coming to fruition in the state legislature.

Brawner notes that the Arkansas plan is not necessarily “government health care,” but it can certainly be considered “government-funded health care.”

Still, he ponders if the state’s pragmatic approach would have occurred at all if we didn’t have divided government.

Brawner writes:

But the process does demonstrate the creativity that can emerge when diverse officeholders at least try to work together. If Democrats had controlled the Legislature and the governor’s office, they probably would have just expanded Medicaid. If Republicans had controlled the Legislature and the governor’s office, then who would have talked to Sebelius?

Think what could have happened had Washington operated like this while Obamacare was being created. What if Democrats and Republicans had worked together over a period of several years, incorporated ideas from both sides and then passed a reasonable compromise?

You can access his full column at this link.