By John Lyon
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK — Republican legislators and labor unions both heaped criticism on the U.S. Senate health care bill here today.
Republican lawmakers said the bill would bust Arkansas’ budget, while labor leaders said the measure offers no meaningful reform.
“I feel like our delegation in Washington is not really considering what the unfunded mandate is on the state, and what that impact is,” said state Rep. Ed Garner, R-Maumelle, after taking part in a news conference at state GOP headquarters.
Garner said estimates of the bill’s impact on Arkansas’ budget have ranged from $100 million to $400 million in additional Medicaid costs.
“That’s not really acceptable to me when we’re trying to move from the position of being a balanced-budget state and create jobs and get ahead. I don’t know where this is going to come from,” he said.
Joining Garner in the news conference were Republican state Reps. Jane English of North Little Rock, Allen Kerr of Little Rock and John Burris of Harrison.
Meanwhile, Justin Nickels, state coordinator of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, spoke against the bill today at a news conference outside Sen. Blanche Lincoln’s office in downtown Little Rock.
“What’s in the Senate bill is just not actually reform. It’s just a big bill that’s going to cause Arkansans to spend a lot more money, and that’s not what we were asking for,” Nickels said.
In Washington today, Lincoln defended the bill, which hung in the balance as Nebraska Democrat Ben Nelson withheld the 60th vote Democrats need to defeat a Republican filibuster. Nelson is pursuing stricter abortion limits.
“I have been engaged in an ongoing dialogue with my constituents on health insurance reform and I welcome all viewpoints,” Lincoln said in a statement released by her office. “The proposals before the Senate would expand access and allow small businesses, the self-employed, and other individuals to shop for affordable, quality options, just like federal employees; change the way insurance companies do business; and protect seniors by ensuring Medicare’s future and their benefits, all without expanding government and placing taxpayers at risk.
“I await the Congressional Budget Office’s analysis of these proposals to ensure a final bill is deficit-neutral, now and in the future, and curbs costs down the road.”
Nickels said the health care bill passed by the House is preferable to the Senate bill because, among other things, it includes a government-run health insurance option.
The Senate bill is “going to be mandating that everyone gets coverage, and if there’s not a public option there won’t be any option other than what the insurance companies are already out there doing for people. So there won’t be a cap on costs, there won’t be anything to create competition to draw costs down for everybody” Nickels said.
The Arkansas AFL-CIO, Health Care for America Now! and Interfaith for Worker Justice also took part in the news conference at Lincoln’s office.
Arkansas AFL-CIO President Alan Hughes spoke against a provision in the Senate bill that would impose a tax on high-cost insurance plans.
“Please, Sen. Lincoln, listen: Do not tax our benefits that we’re fortunate enough to have already,” he said.
Nickels said the groups originally planned to hold a 24-hour vigil to urge Arkansas’ senators to support the measure, but he said the bill had become “a monstrosity.”
Nickels said the vigil would go ahead as planned, but with the new purpose of sending a message to Arkansas’ congressional delegation that when the Senate and House measures are combined, the result should look more like the House bill than the Senate bill.
After the noon news conference, the vigil moved to UA 155 Plumbers Hall in Little Rock.
Lincoln apparently was hearing from others as well today. In the afternoon her office announced it was experiencing problems with its phone systems in Washington and Arkansas because of an overwhelming number of calls and apologized to anyone who was unable to get through.
