Arkansas Governor: U.S. Senate Health Care Could Impact State Budget by $100 Million

From The Tolbert Report: Gov. Mike Beebe’s spokesman Matt DeCample tells the Tolbert Report this morning that their office still has concerns over the cost of the health care reform proposal. In November, Gov. Beebe expressed “big concerns” over the impact of the house version of the health care proposal which he estimated could be $205 million for the state of Arkansas.

DeCample this morning tells me that the numbers they are seeing for the Senate proposal is about half this amount, right around the $100 million mark. He says that the governor is keeping his eye on this but they realize that the final bill coming out of conference committee will be the one to watch.

Also this morning, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who previously has supported health care reform, said on Good Morning America that he could not support the current proposal as it could have a $3 billion negative impact of his state budget in California.

I think this will be one to watch closely. Sen. Lincoln will have a difficult time voting to advance any health care bill that does not have the support of Gov. Beebe who continues to ride approval ratings around 43 points higher than her own.
[Revisit The Tolbert Report for Updates on impact on Arkansas!]

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