Beebe to Unveil Plan for Uninsured Workers in Ark.

Arkansas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mike Beebe said he plans to unveil a health care proposal that will broaden health insurance to uninsured Arkansas workers.

Beebe praised a new state program to offer health insurance to 80,000 low-income workers. Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee announced last week that the federal government had approved the Arkansas Safety Net Benefit Program, which would be funded by a mix of employer, state and federal funds.

Beebe, currently state attorney general, said he would like to see more efforts to expand health insurance to the state’s uninsured.

“I applaud that as a beginning for trying to broaden what I consider to be the problem, and that is broaden the number of folks who have health care coverage available to them,” Beebe told reporters after speaking to the Little Rock Political Animals club.

Beebe provided few specifics for his insurance plan, but said it may include tax credits to encourage small businesses to provide health insurance their employees. The high number of people without health insurance is driving up the costs of health care, Beebe said.

“What we have to do is make sure more people are in that pool of having some opportunity to have some coverage so that we lessen that pressure to increase prices to make up for those losses,” Beebe told club members.

In Arkansas, only 26 percent of small businesses offer health insurance, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said.

Beebe is the only Democrat running for governor this year. Former Clinton administration official Bill Halter dropped out of the race last week to run for lieutenant governor.

Former Congressman Asa Hutchinson is the only Republican running for governor. Huckabee, who is term-limited and leaves office in January, was scheduled to host a fundraiser for Hutchinson in Little Rock Tuesday night.

Beebe told reporters after his speech that he doesn’t believe his approach to the race will change much due to Halter’s exit in the race. He said the biggest impact will be the amount of money he won’t have to worry about spending against a primary opponent.

Beebe said the exit also means that some of his campaign proposals won’t have to be detailed as quickly. Beebe said he plans to release his health care plan before the May 23 primary.

“Frankly, that’s one thing that may have changed,” Beebe told reporters. “We’ve had the luxury of being able to fine-tune some things that might have been rolled out earlier with a primary.”

Hutchinson said one of his goals as governor is to provide affordable health care to Arkansans and praised the new state program announced by Huckabee.

“I’m going to study the specifics of the governor’s plan further, but health care is certainly an issue we’ll be addressing, particularly making access to health care more affordable for small businesses in Arkansas and their employees,” Hutchinson said.

Beebe told club members that he would use “common sense” in separating political events from government functions when deciding when to use a state plane for travel. He avoided, however, directly criticizing Huckabee for his use of the state plane when asked about it by reporters after his speech.

“I think that I’m worried about running my campaign and not trying to get into a particular storm with him right now,” Beebe said.