Our View

Our View

Costs continue to rise for ‘a_ordable’ health care

Even with the revisions Gov. Asa Hutchinson has strived for in reducing the cost of the state’s share of providing free or subsidized health care for the nearly 300,000 “poor” Arkansans, we now here that because of the rising cost of prescription drugs there will be another $300 million tacked onto the estimated $9.4 billion program over the next five years.

And, that doesn’t take into account other unexpected expenses that we’re sure will surface in dealing with Obama’s so-called affordable health care scam.

We’re becoming somewhat skeptical as to whether or not Arkansas taxpayers will ever be able to pick up the state’s share of Obamacare in the years to come without additional taxation.

While we’re all in agreement that such as it is there is no alternative that we know of to replace what was once dubbed the Private Option and now called Arkansas Works.

When Hutchinson became governor his main priority was to convince the Legislature to adopt his government subsidized health care plan that was specifically designed to cut costs in preparation for the federal government’s cutback in funding next year and the years after.

Pending federal approval, Arkansas Works will allow for charging premiums of up to $19 a month to enrollees with incomes above the poverty level. As we all know that is a fraction of what people unable to benefit from government health care subsidies pay for.

Arkansas Works also calls for providing coverage to some enrollees through subsidized employer plans and offering an extra benefit, such as dental coverage, as an incentive for enrollees to pay premiums and receive annual wellness exams.

Hutchinson’s plan also calls for eliminating retroactive coverage for enrollees to “better align” the program with commercial insurance coverage, according to the extension application.

Up until the first of the year the federal government has paid the full cost of the expanded Medicaid program, including the private option, since the coverage began in 2014.

Next year, Arkansas will have to come up with 5 percent of the program’s cost. The state’s share will then grow every year until it reaches a maximum of 10 percent in 2021. And, that doesn’t take into account any unknown or unexpected increases in costs such as $300 million more for prescription drugs.

The cost of Arkansas Works to the taxpayers is expected to total $79.5 million, an increase of about $1.3 million from what the consulting firm’s predictions were.

If everything remains as it is today over five years, Arkansas share is expected to total $730 million, about $25 million more than the original draft extension requests’ estimate.

Here’s the thing, the earlier estimates simply didn’t account for double-digit percentage increases in prescription drug costs. Furthermore, nor did these estimates anticipate any further increases in costs, which by now, know very good and well there will be.

These elected officials we have serving us in Little Rock should seriously address the likelihood of many more unexpected surprises in this so-called Obamacare mess that we were all lied to about.