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Sunday, July 15, 2012

Health Care To expand Medicaid or not to expand Medicaid

Posted by Max Brantley on Sun, Jul 15, 2012 at 7:48 AM

The nation's governors are meeting and the New York Times reports that — political bluster aside — the decision by states on whether to move forward with the Medicaid expansion provided by federal law is nuanced. Some Democrats are cautious. Some Republicans are not so deadset against the idea as you might think.

One thing ought to be clear: Wholly uninformed is the posturing by Arkansas Republican politicians who said last week that the state's "surplus" should be refunded to taxpayers. If it were to be refunded, the balance that Arkansas finished the year with should go to the federal government. Federal stimulus money — hundreds of millions — allowed Arkansas not to tap the Medicaid trust fund and allowed Arkansas to accumulate the extra money. Without the federal money, Arkansas would have run a huge deficit or endured enormous cuts in spending.

Tags: Medicaid, Affordable Care Act, Obamacare

        
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More by Max Brantley

Dumas: Obamacare covered a sorry legislative record

Ernie Dumas writes this week that the 2013 legislature's approval of Obamacare, against long odds, made up for a multitude of sins.
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Arkansas Blog

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Health Care To expand Medicaid or not to expand Medicaid

Posted by Max Brantley on Sun, Jul 15, 2012 at 7:48 AM

Speaking of...

At the announcement yesterday of the charge against Martha Shoffner, U.S. attorneys announced a public corruption task force for the state. /more/

A new school leader in Mineral Springs, a political rumor from Fayetteville and a deconstruction of Rep. Tom Cotton's slam of Obamacare. /more/

Sarah Kliff at the Washington Post's Wonkblog disputes those who think serial votes by the U.S. House against Obamacare are meaningless political theater. /more/

Attorney General Dustin McDaniel has announced that Arkansas will get $5.1 million, including federal matching funds, for its Medicaid program as part of the $500 million settlement of a lawsuit against Ranbaxy, a drug manufacturer in India that provided subpar generic drugs. /more/

Since it's customary to blame President Obama for any and everything unpleasant — see U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton (Club for Growth, D.C.) and the Boston bombings — should he also get some credit for positives? /more/

Top of the morning to you. Another slow day at the outset. /more/

The Washington Post's Wonkblog reports that the feds have developed a simpler application for health coverage under the federal Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare. /more/

So backward-looking was the Arkansas legislature all winter that you wanted to search the rest of the paper every day for the latest news on the hookworm epidemic and yesterday's lynchings, but then it did something truly progressive. /more/

Things you might have missed if you don't carefully peruse the open lines: * AND YOU SAY YOU THOUGHT THE LEGISLATURE DEFEATED OPEN CARRY: Thanks to Theodosius for pointing me to Act 746, by Rep. Denny Altes (a tipoff to craziness for sure) and others such as Bullet Bob Ballinger. /more/

Comments (16)

More by Max Brantley

Ernie Dumas writes this week that the 2013 legislature's approval of Obamacare, against long odds, made up for a multitude of sins.

The LRPD says an arrest has been made in the spate of home burglaries reported during daylight hours Monday in Hillcrest and the Heights.

Event Calendar

Re: TGIF

Re: TGIF

Re: If only Arkansas had a big beer industry

Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen, injured in a bicycle accident last week near his home, sent me an update this morning from his iPad.

Here's a valuable piece of writing for Science Progress from the classrooms of the University of Arkansas by Dr. Lisa Corrigan, co-chair of the gender studies program of the Fulbright College.

Riverfest. Memorial Day.

Good news on the Medicaid cost front: in a joint Public Health committee meeting today, Department of Human Services officials testified that for the third straight quarter, cost growth of the program has slowed.

Politico reports that the gun control group backed by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is following through with plans to buy TV time — $350,000 worth — criticizing U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor for helping defeat some modest gun measures recently, particularly universal background checks.

Public for the first time, the woman who married Damien Echols discusses their relationship

For the vegetarian banh mi sandwich.

Our news partner Channel 4 has a news story that deserves repetition in full. More national headlines for the small people of Arkansas should follow directly.

Perhaps U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin might want to reconsider his earlier decision not to include Republican Rep. Loy Mauch on the list of Republican candidates he'd asked not to use his campaign contributions, having read some of what they'd written.