Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson Thursday signed an appropriation bill into law and used a line-item veto to insure continuation of the state鈥檚 Medicaid expansion, ending a two-week budget standoff.
The Medicaid expansion covers more than 267,000 Arkansans who make less than 138 percent of the federal poverty level (about $16,000 for an individual or a little more than $33,000 for a family of four). The expansion came from a 2013 compromise between Republican lawmakers and Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe. It became known as the 鈥減rivate option鈥� because the state received a federal waiver to use Medicaid funds to purchase private health insurance plans for most newly eligible beneficiaries, rather than placing them in the traditional Medicaid program.
Hutchinson, a Republican, has backed continuing the policy he negotiated with the Obama administration.
Legislation enacting the governor鈥檚 plan, which he calls 鈥�,鈥� passed by earlier this month. However, the state constitution requires 75 percent of both chambers of the legislature to okay the appropriation for the Medicaid budget, which includes funding for the 鈥淎rkansas Works鈥� program. A rump group of 10 Republican senators opposed to the policy last week, the entire Medicaid program unless the Medicaid expansion was killed.
The impasse was broken via a unprecedented in Arkansas. The backers of 鈥淎rkansas Works鈥� agreed to include an amendment to the Medicaid appropriation to end the program at the conclusion of this year. Hutchinson, however, announced that he would use the line-item veto to nix this amendment, so the Medicaid expansion would live on, fully funded.
This was enough to convince two of the 10 holdouts, Sen. Blake Johnson and Sen. Bart Hester, to approve the appropriation 鈥� which featured the language that they wanted. Of the governor鈥檚 plan to veto, Johnson said, 鈥淭hat鈥檚 beyond my control.鈥� Those two votes were enough for the needed supermajority and the bill passed the Senate on Wednesday.
Hester had previously said that the 10 holdouts were willing to play a game of 鈥渉ard chicken,鈥� but balked with the potential of a shutdown two months away. 鈥淲hen I realized I was not willing to shut down Medicaid, then it was like, what are we going to do now,鈥� he said.
The appropriation bill passed the House Thursday afternoon, and the governor immediately exercised his line-item veto to ensure continuation of the Medicaid expansion and signed it into law.
Hutchinson applauded 鈥渢he spirit of cooperation in the General Assembly鈥� and called Arkansas Works 鈥渁 practical solution for the state of Arkansas.鈥� Of the line-item veto maneuver, the governor said that 鈥渢he key thing was transparency. Everybody knew what was happening 鈥� that鈥檚 not trickery.鈥�