417 South Victory Street, Little Rock, AR 72201-2923; 501-372-5250; F 501-372-0546;

Governor Beebe is urging Arkansans to research the facts about Medicaid Expansion and talk to their legislators. According to the Nov. 29 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Gov. Mike Beebe discussed the possibility of the expansion for the first time with recently elected House Speaker-designee Davy Carter, R-Cabot. Beebe told reporters that he had a “good conversation” with Carter about Medicaid, but said everyone needed more information about the potential changes to the program. “We both agree we’re happy leaving it where it is or we’re happy making the change if everybody thinks we should, but no decision could be made until we educate more of our folks — including [Carter] — with what does it mean, what’s the difference, what’s the difference with the partnership that we’re currently proceeding under and what’s the difference if the state does it,” Beebe said. Sen. Michael Lamoureux, R- Russellville, Senate Pro Temp, was also invited to the meeting but was not able to ttend. Lamoureux said by phone later that he doesn’t think either the Democratic or Republican parties have united around a single plan. “The goal is a bipartisan legislative plan,” Lamoureux said. “Anything other than that will not pass.” Lamoureux said legislators would not be able to debate until all of the facts were gathered. He questioned how Medicaid could expand while simultaneously paying for the estimated shortfall, but added that “we’re still a long way away” from a decision. Medicaid Expansion Debates over the health law’s Medicaid expansion and whether or not Arkansas should participate is expected to be a hot topic for the Arkansas 89th General Assembly in the 2013 Legislative Session. It would take 75 votes in the House and 27 votes in the Senate to pass an appropriation bill authorizing the expansion. Neither party has enough seats in either chamber to make a decision alone. A study by the Academy of American Actuaries says costs would rise for the privately insured if states decide to forgo Medicaid expansion. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) includes a provision to expand Medicaid eligibility to 133 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) - individuals making between $11,170 and $14,893. This would effectively expand Medicaid eligibility to 138 percent of the FPL because Medicaid eligibility determinations would disregard 5 percent of income. The recent Supreme Court decision, however, gives states the option of implementing the Medicaid expansion. Whether and to what extent states choose to expand Medicaid can have implications for private coverage. View the Academy of American Actuaries study here: http://actuary.org/files/NCOIL_Annual_Medicaid_Expansion_Presentation.pdf. Medicaid Shortfall Arkansas is facing a rapidly approaching $298 million Medicaid shortfall. Governor Beebe has recommended that the state contribute $90 million in general-revenue funds and an additional onetime $70 million from the general improvement fund to reduce the expected shortfall to $138 million in 2014. How did Arkansas end up with such a huge shortfall? For much of the recession, federal stimulus funds masked the problem. Arkansas — like the rest of the country — received a temporarily elevated rate of federal financing for Medicaid, which covers diverse segments of the populations, including the disabled, some of the elderly, pregnant women and lower-income children. Since 2007, the federal match of the state’s $5 billion Medicaid program has fallen from 73.37 percent to 70.17 percent. That means that the state’s share has risen to nearly 30 cents of every Medicaid dollar. For most of 2010, at the height of stimulus spending, Arkansas received an 81.18 percent match. But when the stimulus funds ran out, the match started decreasing. The decrease translates into real money. Each percentage point drop in federal support to the Arkansas’ Medicaid program represents about $50 million that the state needs to come up with to support the program. The $5 billion state Medicaid program, which has 780,000 enrollees, could potentially see cuts to services starting in July unless money is found to fill the potential gap Contact Debra Wolfe ([email protected]) for more information. 417 South Victory Street, Little Rock, AR 72201-2923; 501-372-5250; f 501-372-0546; www.arrx.org .

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