On Radio Show, Ark. Gov. Takes Questions on New Health Plan

Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee says businesses won’t be forced to participate in a program using federal Medicaid dollars to provide health insurance to employees, but if they do, they’ll have to cover all employees.

Huckabee said the federal government had approved a program to offer health insurance to 80,000 low-income workers. The insurance would be funded with a mix of employer, state and federal funds.

Huckabee said on his “Ask the Governor” show that all employers at a participating business would be covered.

“The way this works is everyone has to have coverage and the employer has to agree to cover everyone in the employee pool,” Huckabee. “The only ones who could opt out are those who have coverage through a spouse.”

Currently in Arkansas, only about one in four small businesses offers health insurance, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said. Employers would have to contribute $15 a month for each employee with income less than twice the poverty level and $100 a month for higher-income workers.

One caller asked the governor to explain how the insurance program wasn’t “a compulsory socialist program.”

The governor said the program won’t be mandatory and will help workers keep their jobs.

“The fact is, there are many, many Arkansas workers who are one broken arm away from not being able to pay their rent next month,” Huckabee said. “They are literally a case of the flu away from not being able to make … next month’s truck payment. And without that truck, they don’t get to work.”

Huckabee also said the program won’t be a handout because workers will be expected to contribute.

Topics Arkansas Alaska