House bill 1929 would end the current form of Obamacare Medicaid Expansion across the state, called Arkansas Works. In its place, a task force would form to study how Arkansas should transition to a more traditional Medicaid fee-for-service program.
Currently under Arkansas Works, insurance companies are paid premiums of over $500 per month for every person enrolled in the program by the state of Arkansas. The insurance companies receive these payments, regardless of whether a person ever uses the insurance or receives healthcare services.
By transitioning to a more traditional fee-for-service structure, insurance companies would only be paid for healthcare service actually received by beneficiaries. This means Arkansas tax-payers would only pay for healthcare of Medicaid recipients, rather than health insurance just to line the pocketbooks of big insurance companies.
While Obamacare Medicaid Expansion is a massive expansion of welfare and dependency on government costing into the billions of dollars, this version would be cheaper than the current Arkansas Works setup.
Arkansas taxpayers would pay less for Medicaid under a fee-for-service program.
In addition, this transition has the potential to undermine the big insurance company’s stranglehold over the Arkansas General Assembly with their massive donations and lobbying pressure. Insurance companies stand to lose nearly $2 billion with this change.
