Our View

Our View

Getting free, cheap health care to those who truly need it

Now that Arkansans face chalking up millions of dollars to subsidize the health care coverage of well over 300,000 “poor” people we see no reason to rejoice over the fact that after falling by more than 21,000 at the beginning of March, enrollment in the state’s version of Obamacare had climbed back more than halfway to where it had been before the drop.

For various administrative reasons, enrollment fell from 332,231 to 310,950 after coverage for 31,280 enrollees was terminated on March 1 as a result of eligibility checks. By March 31, however, sign-ups had risen to 322,472.

One of the reasons for the decline is due to about 9,000 who had failed to respond to notices requesting information needed to verify their eligibility. It is obvious the uptick in enrollment is due to many of those people having their coverage restored after supplying the Arkansas Department of Human Services with the necessary documents proving their eligibility.

As taxpayers, we should be pleased to hear the bureaucrats within the DHS admit the fact that the number of Arkansans enrolled in Arkansas’ expanded Medicaid program is still too high.

With that said, it is also important to make clear that those individuals who should be on the program are on the program, and those who should not be on the program are not, as stated by J.R. Davis, a spokesman for Gov. Asa Hutchinson.

Let’s remember state and DHS officials initially estimated when Arkansas created its version of Obamacare there would be no more than 250,000 on the rolls. Well, that estimate was obviously wrong and now we’re dealing with an enormous health care issue for poor people that will be costing state taxpayers millions. Up to this year the federal government picked up the entire tab but effective this year the state’s share is 5 percent and will increase every year until it reaches 10 percent of health care costs for the poor in 2010.

This why it is critical that every effort is made on the part of our state bureaucrats and politicians to develop programs that decrease these numbers.

One of the ways this is being done under Gov.

Hutchinson’s Arkansas Works program, private option enrollees with incomes above the poverty level in January began paying premiums of a meager $13 a month, which is deducted from what the Medicaid program pays.

And, in January and February, 1,780 enrollees used job-readiness or placement services offered by the Department of Workforce Services, and at least 1,209 of those enrollees started new jobs.

These, and other programs that are in the planning stages will encouraging in that they should have a noticeable impact on this state’s health care issues that relate to those requiring government subsidies.