Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s eight-year presidency began with debates over controversial health care policies and was later marked by a once-in-a-century health care crisis.
The policy debate was about whether to continue the Private Option, a program launched under Gov. Mike Beebe using Obamacare dollars to purchase private health insurance for 343,000 Arkansas residents. . You may have heard of it.
The crisis was the COVID-19 pandemic. I’m sure you’ve heard of it.
Hutchinson discussed these and other challenges in an interview in his office on December 20th. This column is his second in a two-part series. The first was about his potential presidential run. A decision on whether he will run for office will be made within the next three months.
During the pandemic, Hutchinson closed public schools for in-person instruction at the end of the spring 2020 semester, then reopened in the fall. However, Arkansas was not as locked down as other states. Much of his effort was based on information and persuasion.
I asked how he balances curbing the spread of the virus with other priorities such as the economy and schools. did you sleep at night?
“I was confident in my decisiveness. I’ve been in crisis before,” he said. “But then the same question was asked to me when I was at Homeland Security: How do you sleep at night when you know you could be held accountable if a terrorist attack happens? The answer is that I believe in a sovereign God and pray about the decisions I make based on the best information I have and that decision and the future and the path of the nation. I am confident in who will lead.”
He usually doesn’t wrestle with a decision after he makes it. He sometimes reflects on things that were created too quickly and without proper information, but COVID he was not one of those situations.
“Obviously, from a historical perspective, there are some decisions that could be judged right or wrong,” he said. I think we made the right decision on a big issue.”
As for the private option, Hutchinson had to overcome early opposition from lawmakers within his own Republican Party to get the 75% support needed for the fundraiser. He succeeded by buying time through creative congressional ploys and then adding federally banned labor requirements.
When asked about the program’s conservative rationale, he said it was a pragmatic approach to government. Later known as Arkansas Works, now known as ARHOME. When he took office, it was already part of the state’s healthcare system and the hospital’s financial structure. Then I added a working requirement which is a conservative approach.
A lot has happened in the last eight years. When asked about his greatest successes as governor, he pointed out: It’s tax cuts, computer science initiatives, leading COVID, and transforming state governments. These are things that never would have happened if I hadn’t gotten out there and put my political capital in and led our country in those areas. I think we can. If the governor hadn’t intervened, it would never have happened in the sense of buying a pig farm. “
Remember it all? Hutchinson cut taxes at all income levels, increased the number of students taking computer science classes from 500 to 23,544, and reduced the number of cabinet-level institutions from 42 to 15. The state has announced that he will purchase the pig farm for her $6.20 in January 2020. One million.
Hutchinson, 72, has no plans to retire now that he has resigned. he wants to write a book If he is to run for president, he must run immediately.
In the short term, moving out of the governor’s mansion and his office was a big project, with eight years of archival material going to the University of Arkansas.
He finds an office in Rogers and pursues national initiatives from there. The good news is that he doesn’t have to look for a place to live.
“We actually had a house there. Thankfully we’ve had a house there for eight years. Otherwise, we might not be able to afford a house there now.” he said with a smile.
Steve Brawner is a syndicated columnist published in 18 outlets in Arkansas. Email brawnersteve@mac.com. Follow @stevebrawner on Twitter.
.
