State of Arkansas Archives: on Health Care

Anthony Bland: Every person in state should be covered by healthcare

Anthony Bland: Invest in children's health, education & livelihood

Asa Hutchinson: A lot of budget "fuzziness" if private option is not renewed

Beebe told the sheriffs there is no "fuzziness" to his administration's estimate of $89 million in expected savings from the so-called private option, emphatically rejecting Republican gubernatorial candidate Asa Hutchinson's description of it by that term. "It's not hype. It's not B.S. It's plain old arithmetic," he said.

The private option is the state's program that uses federal Medicaid money to provide private health insurance to low-income Arkansans. About 85,000 people have enrolled so far.

Asa Hutchinson: $5M for Mental Health Stabilization Centers

Asa Hutchinson: Work requirement for Medicaid

Asa Hutchinson: COVID: Getting vaccines out is public/private partnership

Asa Hutchinson: Kept state "open for business" during pandemic

As we move into the next phase of managing the pandemic and consider President Trump's guidelines for "Opening Up America Again," we are applying our propensity for planning to reopen the segments of our economies that temporarily closed. Each of us has identified triggers for when regions of our states and sectors of our economies should reopen, based on metrics tailored to our unique circumstances. We are sharing expertise and best practices on how to safely reopen restaurants, churches, gyms and other businesses while continuing to slow the spread of infection.

Blanche Lambert Lincoln: Can’t get our arms around the uninsured

Blanche Lambert Lincoln: I stopped the public option in ObamaCare

BOOZMAN: "Would you still cast the deciding vote for ObamaCare?"

LINCOLN: "People told me they wanted no government health care and I stopped it. I did not support the public option and I stopped that government health care. This is a complicated issue. This is not a perfect bill, it's going to take us time. Where there are places to correct in this bill I will. I would just simply ask, if we're not going to do something, we're just going to continue the status quo. Is that appropriate?"

BOOZMAN:"Certainly something needs to be done but the idea that we've got to do something and that's the solution, I think is what's wrong with government."

Blanche Lambert Lincoln: Worked to ensure the overhaul helped small businesses

Lincoln said she worked to make sure the overhaul didn't include a government-run insurance option and helped small businesses. "Where there are places to correct in this bill, I will work hard to make it better. The fact is I'm hearing from Arkansans that there were a lot of things we needed to do and I think this got us started," Lincoln said.

Boozman said he voted against the overhaul because he heard overwhelming opposition from Arkansans to the legislation. "Something needs to be done, but the idea that we've got to do something [in Congress] and that's the solution is what I think is wrong with government," Boozman said.

Blanche Lambert Lincoln: Fix broken logistics of healthcare delivery

"The logistics of our delivery system are broken and we've got to fix them," adds Lincoln.

Bruce Westerman: No public option; no individual mandates

A: No.

Q: Do you support expanding access to health care through commercial health insurance reform?

A: Yes.

Q: Do you support interstate health insurance compacts?

A: Yes.

Q: Should individuals be required to purchase health care insurance?

A: No.

Q: Do you support monetary limits on damages that can be collected in malpractice lawsuits?

A: Yes.

Chris Jones: Help to make prescription drugs more affordable

Conner Eldridge: Improve ObamaCare rather than distractions about repeal

"I think efforts at repeal right now are a distraction," Eldridge said after announcing his candidacy. "I do think there are flaws in the law, there are problems with the law, and I would be focused and will be focused as a senator on correcting and fixing some of the real problems that are in that law."

Boozman and the rest of the state's all-GOP congressional delegation have repeatedly called for the law's repeal. Boozman unseated Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln in 2010, in a race that focused primarily on her support of the law.

Curtis Coleman: I will never vote to fund ObamaCare

Dan Whitfield: Universal healthcare, like every other industrialized nation

Dan Whitfield: Medicare for All--human misery should never be monetized

Dan Whitfield: Coronavirus: China is not the enemy; COVID-19 is

"Defeating this common worldwide enemy is going to take all of our nations working together," Whitfield said. "We can not afford to warmonger against a people that are suffering just as we are."

French Hill: ObamaCare is a $2.2 trillion mistake

We must also embrace reforms that reward quality healthcare, encourage healthy living, and minimize waste through patient choice, information, transparent pricing, and healthcare ownership. We need a private insurance market that allows for flexibility, portability, and choice.

Jared Henderson: Support Arkansas Works; concentrate on reducing premiums

John Boozman: Something needs to be done, but ObamaCare is a job killer

BOOZMAN: "Would you still cast the deciding vote for ObamaCare?"

LINCOLN: "People told me they wanted no government health care and I stopped it. I did not support the public option and I stopped that government health care. This is a complicated issue. This is not a perfect bill, it's going to take us time. Where there are places to correct in this bill I will. I would just simply ask, if we're not going to do something, we're just going to continue the status quo. Is that appropriate?"

BOOZMAN:"Certainly something needs to be done but the idea that we've got to do something and that's the solution, I think is what's wrong with government."

John Boozman: Solution like overhaul is what's wrong with government

Lincoln said she worked to make sure the overhaul didn't include a government-run insurance option and helped small businesses. "Where there are places to correct in this bill, I will work hard to make it better. The fact is I'm hearing from Arkansans that there were a lot of things we needed to do and I think this got us started," Lincoln said.

Boozman said he voted against the overhaul because he heard overwhelming opposition from Arkansans to the legislation. "Something needs to be done, but the idea that we've got to do something [in Congress] and that's the solution is what I think is wrong with government," Boozman said.

John Boozman: I want to be the deciding vote to repeal ObamaCare

Boozman repeatedly highlighted Lincoln's role as a pivotal vote in the passage of Obama's health-care law. "Sen. Lincoln is very proud of being the deciding vote of Obamacare. I want to be the deciding vote to repeal it," Boozman said.

John Boozman: Nothing in healthcare bill controls cost; much escalates it

"The logistics of our delivery system are broken and we've got to fix them," adds Lincoln.

Josh Mahony: Supports public option; preserve private health insurance

"Nobody in the United States who has insurance in fact should be in a position where they're an illness away from losing everything they own," Mahony said.

Leslie Rutledge: Joined Texas lawsuit to end ObamaCare

Mark Pryor: AdWatch: Targeted by RNC robocalls for support of ObamaCare

The targets besides Pryor are Reps. Gary Peters (MI) and Bruce Braley (IA), Sens. Mark Warner (VA), Mark Begich (AK), Dick Durbin (IL), Kay Hagan (NC), Mary Landrieu (LA), Jeff Merkley (OR), Jeanne Shaheen (NH), and Mark Udall (CO). The robocall script reads:

"President Obama and the Democrats said you could keep your healthcare plan under ObamaCare. Now we know [SENATOR] actually VOTED to make it more difficult. Call [SENATOR] at (XXX)-XXX-XXX & ask why [he/she] lied."

The robocalls are a response to Democrats launching the "GOP Shutdown Watch" campaign, highlighting Republican senate candidates who supported the partial federal government shutdown.

Mark Pryor: AdWatch: False that Medicare vouchers increase seniors' cost

"It says here Cotton voted in Congress to change Medicare into a voucher system that will increase out-of-pocket expenses for every senior in Arkansas," Courtney said, pointing to her laptop. "Thousands of dollars every year. My grandma and grandpa can't afford that, and neither can my parents." The facts?

• We've previously fact-checked whether or not Cotton voted to turn Medicare into a "voucher system." We rated that Mostly True.
• But instituting a voucher system wouldn't directly change coverage for current seniors on Medicare. That's a far cry from the ad's claim that a voucher system would increase costs for "every senior."
• Our ruling: Cotton did vote for a voucher-like system, but we rate the "increases expenses" claim Mostly False.

Mark West: Oppose ObamaCare

A: Oppose

Mike Beebe: Provide better care without federal Affordable Care Act

Mike Beebe: Expand state Medicaid, but with low-income private option

Through the private option, Arkansas is using federal Medicaid funds to purchase private insurance for low-income residents. Nearly 94,000 people are receiving subsidized insurance through the program, the first of its kind approved by the federal government. The program's future had been in jeopardy, but survived a defunding push in the House earlier this week.

Mike Huckabee: ARKids First program: record decreases in uninsured

Mike Ross: Voted for ObamaCare early on but now consistently against it

The truth? Ross was the leader of a small group of Blue Dogs that signed on to ObamaCare after receiving several key concessions. One of the concessions was a delay in any vote until after the August recess. During the heated town hall meetings, Ross came to see that he could not support ObamaCare. After that, he consistently voted against the bill and even voted for repeal. However, the turnaround does not erase the record.

Mike Ross: Voted against individuals keeping health insurance plans

"The Republican Party is referencing an amendment to a bill that never became law," said a Ross spokesman. "Ross' opponents have used distortions to smear Ross' consistent opposition to ObamaCare. The truth is Mike Ross allowed Americans' to keep their health insurance by consistently voting against ObamaCare and voting to repeal the law multiple times over."

The truth lies somewhere in between. While the parliamentary maneuvers did end up causing a different bill to become ObamaCare, the bill Ross voted for in committee in 2009 was the version the House was advancing at the time. If that bill had not mattered as Ross now claims, there would not have been the intense debate and pressure put on Ross to vote for the bill.

Natalie James: Defend and improve the Affordable Care Act

As your Senator, Natalie James will:
• Defend Protections for those with pre-existing conditions.
• Support legislation to lower the cost of prescription drugs and measures to allow Medicaid to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies.
• Defend and improve the Affordable Care Act.
• Hold Big Pharma accountable for its role in the opioid epidemic.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders: Opposes vaccination or masking mandates for COVID

Tom Cotton: Federal shut down to force ObamaCare delay by one year

In response, the Cotton campaign released the following statement: "This ad is a total fabrication and is just the latest example of Sen. Pryor telling Arkansans one thing and doing something completely different in Washington. Tom Cotton voted five times to fund the government and end the shutdown. Sen. Pryor voted against four separate compromise measures that could have opened the government sooner. Instead, Sen. Pryor chose once again to side with Pres. Obama and Harry Reid. Among the compromise measures that Pryor opposed, one would simply have delayed the individual mandate in ObamaCare by one year, giving Arkansas families the same grace period the Administration has already given to big businesses.

Tom Cotton: FactCheck: No special subsidies for congressional staff

"What's good for the goose ought to be good for the gander. But not in Washington. Mark Pryor cast the deciding vote to make you live under ObamaCare. But Pryor votes himself and everyone in Congress special subsidies so they're protected from ObamaCare. Exceptions and special subsidies for Mark Pryor. Higher insurance premiums for you."

The "special subsidy" refers to a provision, pushed by Republicans, that requires members of Congress and their staff to buy health coverage through the ObamaCare marketplaces. Federal worker benefits would take the same money that it would have spent on the government's old health insurance and spend it on whatever lawmakers and their staffs purchased on the ObamaCare marketplaces. In other words, it would do what every other employer does. Continuing that cost-sharing is the "special subsidy" the Cotton ad refers to. The assertion falls wide of the facts, and we rate this claim False.

Tom Cotton: AdWatch: Cotton supports Medicare "premium support" vouchers

• We've previously fact-checked the Pryor campaign on whether or not Cotton voted to turn Medicare into a "voucher system." We rated that Mostly True. Republicans typically prefer the term "premium support" to "voucher system," but the concept is the same.
• Cotton voted for Paul Ryan's budget proposal in 2013. The plan, which didn't become law, called for issuing flat payments to seniors. Seniors would then have the choice to either purchase traditional Medicare coverage or private insurance.
• But instituting a voucher system wouldn't have directly changed coverage for current seniors on Medicare. That's a far cry from the ad's claim that a voucher system would increase costs for "every senior."
• Our ruling: Cotton did vote for a voucher-like system, but we rate the "increases expenses" claim Mostly False.

Tom Cotton: AdWatch: No, Cotton won't end Medicare guarantee

Senate Majority PAC seems stuck in a time warp on this talking point, referring back to an older version of the House Republican plan to transform the health-care system for the elderly by offering beneficiaries help in buying private insurance, known as "premium support." The plan was substantially changed in 2012 to include an option for seniors to keep the traditional fee-for-service Medicare plan if they preferred. So the "guarantee" is now there. (Claiming a federal program has a "guarantee" is also odd because a future Congress can change the terms of any program.)

The Pinocchio Test: The Medicare claims are so stale--and so repeatedly discredited--we can assume that polling indicates that the language is effective in moving voters, despite its falsity. Four Pinocchios

Tom Cotton: Introduced bill to cut off purchase of China-made drugs

Tom Cotton: Supreme Court got it wrong o ObamaCare individual mandate

COTTON: Well, I think the Supreme Court got that case wrong eight years ago, especially on the so-called individual mandate which fined Americans for not being able to afford health insurance the federal government made unaffordable in the first place. That's one reason I led the charge in Congress to repeal the individual mandate, which had fined more than 7 million Americans. That case, however, is being argued right after the election. It's not clear to me yet whether we will have a new justice confirmed, so I can't speculate on how the court is going to rule on that particular case or if this nominee will be seated in time to rule on that case.