Arkansas Democrats Move Forward With Implementation of Obamacare

Insurance Comm.
Jay Bradford

Curtis Coleman, Contributing Author: Arkansas Insurance Commissioner Jay Bradford engaged in his own brand of Mediscare this week to win approval to spend almost $400,000 to advance the implementation of Obamacare in the State. At the same time Bradford’s department announced statewide forums to educate Arkansans about how Obamacare will “improve their health insurance options.”

On Wednesday of this week, the Review Committee of the Arkansas Legislative Council approved the state Insurance Department’s $381,900 contract with a company that will begin “researching and planning” an Obamacare-mandated health insurance exchange for the State.

According to Bradford, funding for the contract will come from a $1 million federal grant the Arkansas Insurance department received from the U.S. Department of Health and Humans Services.

Bradford sent a letter to the Committee requesting approval for the contract. According to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Bradford maintained “the contract does not conflict with actions taken by the Legislature during the session to slow down or stop the state from creating its own exchange.” Bradford’s letter reportedly says the contract “is only for planning activities, such as research, data analysis, identifying options, and setting our goals.”

Only in government are “research, data analysis and setting goals” not a part of the process of moving forward with a program or project.

Then came Bradford’s version of Mediscare and his tacit admission that going forward with the planning process is going forward with the implementation of Obamcare. “Not going forward with the planning process that’s funded by [the federal government] would be a dramatic statement that we weren’t going forward,” Bradford told the Committee. “We don’t know how it’s going to end up, but if we walk away from the planning process, we know it will end up with the [Federal] Department of Health and Human Services,” he said.

So Bradford doesn’t know how Obamacare is going to turn out, whether it will be held by the Supreme Court to be constitutional or unconstitutional, but he’s certain that if the State doesn’t spend this federal money, Arkansas will end up with the federal government taking over the Arkansas Insurance Department. How low in the IQ pool does that logic reach?

Every taxpayer who’s paying attention has got to be on the verge of severe nausea at the fallacious position so frequently taken by Arkansas officials and bureaucrats that federal grants don’t cost us anything. “It’s free money!” Every Arkansas taxpayer knows that it makes no difference if his/her money goes through Little Rock or Washington; it still feels the same coming out of his wallet or her purse.

But Bradford’s Insurance Department isn’t resting with just this study. In an email recently distributed to undisclosed recipients, Bruce B. Donaldson, the department’s Planning Project Specialist for the Health Benefits Exchange wrote,

“Attached is a flyer we have produced that has the dates, times & place for the upcoming Community meetings.

“There are a couple of dates missing but we will get them to you as soon as finalized.

“Time is of essence, so please distribute to all interested stakeholders in our communities statewide that you have access to. All Arkansas should have a chance to participate in these very important meetings.”

Click here to see the schedule for these forums: ObmacareCommunityMeetings

This much is clear. Democrats in Arkansas state government, under the direction of Gov. Beebe, are aggressively moving forward with the implementation of Obamacare in Arkansas. They’re reportedly spending money from the Obamacare federal slush fund, money being rapidly distributed to states to implement this dramatic overreach of government before it’s found to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Click here to read more about Arkansas’s Obamacare health exchange planning process.

These Democrats are actually counting on a precept articulated by President Ronald Reagan:

“There is nothing closer to eternal life on this earth than a government program.”

When was the last time you saw a government program eliminated? If Obamacare can be implemented before the Supreme Court can strike it down, it will likely be here to stay. And then Arkansans will be paying for it, not the “federal government.”

And this is also clear. We must put conservatives in the majority in the Arkansas House and the Arkansas Senate in 2012, and we must put a conservative in the Governor’s office in 2014. We must not be distracted from nor divided over this singular goal. We cannot leave anything on the table in this election cycle. If we do, it is likely that we will discover we left everything on the table…including the American Dream for our children and theirs.
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Curtis Coleman is the President of The Curtis Coleman Institute for Constitutional Policy and contributing author to the ARRA News Service.

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Tags: Arkansas, Democrats, Insurance Commissioner, Jay Bradford, Obamacare, mediscare, Arkansas House, Arkansas Senate, Bruce Donaldson, healthcare exchanges, Constitution, Health Care Reform, Curtis Coleman, The New South Conservative To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!