By Any Other Name (Editorial)

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet

Ol’ Shakespeare knew human nature, didn’t he? Last week, a well-paid consultant suggested that Arkansas’ generally successful but still controversial approach to Medicaid expansion could benefit from a name change.

Instead of the “private option,” The Stephen Group of New Hampshire suggested T-HIP, an acronym for Transitional Health Insurance Program. The word transitional would underscore the goal of the program that is limited to the working poor: to provide health insurance until they get to that place (defined by federal law as 138 percent of poverty) when they no longer need to have their health insurance fully paid by federal and state taxpayers.

That is, of course, aspirational, but the point is well made.

A new name is not the only change The Stephen Group suggested for the private option. The program has allowed Arkansas to cut its uninsured population by the greatest percentage (almost 60 percent) of any state, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be improved. What large-scale program, public or private, was ever rolled out perfectly conceived and executed?

Most importantly, The Stephen Group has reinforced that Arkansas was smart to accept the federal Medicaid expansion money that all other Southern states but Kentucky refused. Even when the state government begins to pick up part of the cost, consultants reported a few months back, Arkansas will see a net benefit of $438 million between 2017 and 2021.

A couple hundred thousand Arkansans have health insurance through the private option, and it has slashed the amount of uncompensated care provided by hospitals around the state. If giving it a new, aspirational name makes it more likely to win continued approval from state lawmakers, T-HIP smells pretty sweet.