Quick Facts About The Arkansas Obamacare Exchange
Did you know:
- The Obamacare Exchange – called the Arkansas Health Insurance Marketplace (Act 1500 of 2013) – is projected to cost taxpayers $40 million in 2015 and $72 million in 2016
- Salaries for the Obamacare exchange 12 employees total more than $1.1 million in year one-with its top employee receiving over $807,618 (w/benefits over 3 yrs)
- Obamacare 12 employees will receive over $330,000 worth of “fringe benefits” this year and over $1 million over the three year budget
- The Obamacare board will spend up to $3 Million on “consultant costs” this year and plan to spend $7 Million over the three year budget
- In 2015, the Obamacare board will also spend over $35 million on “contractual costs” and $68 million next year ($10 million “Media” contracts over 3 yrs)
- In 2015, the Obamacare board will spend over $325,000 on “other” expenses plus $200,000 on a single “conference” to share its “mission”
- Members of the Obamacare board are appointed by pro-Obamacare members of the legislature and Governor Beebe for an average six year term
- The Obamacare board has the authority to apply for any taxpayer-funded grant that they choose to help them implement Obamacare in Arkansas
- In 2013, the Arkansas legislature gave the Obamacare exchange the ability to convert themselves to a state-based exchange by July 1, 2015, which will lead to even more costs for Arkansas taxpayers
- If the Supreme Court rules later this year that Obamacare subsidies can only flow through state exchanges, Arkansas’s decision to implement a state exchange will not only work to support Obamacare and work counter to this ruling but will result in millions of dollars in costs and penalties for Arkansans
- Only a proactive step by the legislature to reclaim authority from the Obamacare board can stop a state Obamacare exchange from coming to Arkansas
Arkansas legislators should act swiftly to stop the implementation of a state Obamacare exchange in Arkansas and save Arkansans from this disastrous law.
Source: https://static.ark.org/eeuploads/arhim/Level_Two_AHIM_Grant_Budget_Narrative.pdf
2013 Health Ins Market Place Exchange Act 1500
Do not re-elect any senator or representative who saddled us with these burdens.
State exchanges trigger the employer and individual mandates (King v. Burwell to be heard by SCOTUS March 4, 2015). IRS overreach, imagine that, in 2012 led to subsidies being adminitered tgrough federal exchanges which is what AR us currently on. Subsidies should only be run through state exchanges, not federal. Subsidies via state exchanges are the triggers to the mandates or taxes when companies and individuals don’t have an Essential Health Benefit Plan as defined by DHHS. Without state exchange/subsidies, mandates or taxes under PPACA don’t apply. This increases the state competitiveness to attract new employers to AR. Frees over 760,000 Arkansans from the mandate taxes. Premiums woild dramatically drop if Arkansans are allowed to customize health insurance plans.