Once again, Obamacare stumbles in Arkansas

Rep. Mike Patterson: Official Speech Suppressor of the Arkansas General AssemblyEarlier this week, Republican legislators were asked by state Insurance Commissioner Jay Bradford to support the establishment of a state health insurance exchange; yesterday, as detailed in this excellent story by John Lyon, they turned him down.

You can read commentary at our sister site, The Arkansas Project, from David Kinkade about what Bradford’s initial request was, why it was a Trojan horse, and how Republicans reacted to it. You can also read my post over there about how committee chairman Mike Patterson did his best to block the distribution of the latest AAI report to lawmakers. By the way, about that report -- you should read it.

You should read it because the state’s political and media establishment seem convinced that unless we establish a state health insurance exchange immediately, we will have a federal exchange imposed on us shortly. There are plenty of reasons to believe that it ain’t necessarily so.