250,000 AHCCCS patients to be thrown to to the wolves to pay for corporate welfare tax cuts

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Well, not exactly. The corporate welfare tax giveaway plan to be approved today by the Arizona Legislature does not pay for itself — there are no Pay-Go provisions. The legislation will cost the state $38 million next year and will grow to $538 million when fully implemented in 2018, according to this JLBC analysis, worsening the state's structural revenue deficit. It is built entirely upon the fiction of faith based supply-side "trickle down" GOP economics. It is Jan Brewer's Tinkerbell Tax Plan — "just clap your hands and believe!"

While the corporate "welfare queens" are getting a taxpayer-funded government bailout today, poor Arizonans who rely upon the AHCCCS program (Medicaid) for medical care are about to be thrown to the wolves by our Governor Grim Reaper. Arizona Medicaid cuts OK, feds say:

Arizona doesn't need federal approval to eliminate 250,000 people from its Medicaid rolls in order to continue to receive federal matching dollars, health officials said Tuesday.

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In a letter to Brewer [Tuesday], U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the state's entire program comes up for federal reauthorization Sept. 30, and Arizona could simply choose to stop covering the childless adults who Gov. Jan Brewer and legislative Republicans are seeking to drop from the rolls.

In a statement, Brewer called it an "encouraging" development. However, Brewer did not indicate what steps the state will now take, beyond saying she looks forward to meeting with Sebelius.

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The requirement to maintain eligibility does not prevent Arizona from dropping people whose coverage goes above and beyond Medicaid requirements, such as the childless adults, when the state renews its request for federal matching funds this fall, Sebelius said.

"Any reduction in eligibility associated with the expiration of your demonstration . . . would not constitute a (maintenance of effort) violation," she wrote.

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"Secretary Sebelius' letter clearly indicates that Arizona may take the steps it requires to manage its Medicaid program and balance its budget, without violating (maintenance of effort) requirements," Brewer said in a statement.

But Brewer and Republican legislative leaders have another legal hurdle. Voters in 2000 agreed to cover the group they want to eliminate from the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, the state's Medicaid program.

The governor's fiscal 2012 budget proposal relies on the waiver and $541 million in savings from cutting 280,000 people from AHCCCS, effective Oct. 1.

She and lawmakers face a near-certain lawsuit if they proceed with that budget plan.

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The announcement, which stunned policymakers, could also prompt hospital and health-care groups to sweeten last month's offer to provide additional federal funding through a tax on their revenues. The funding plan brings in more federal money, but the one-year offer by the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association was viewed as a nonstarter by lawmakers.

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Arizona's spending on Medicaid now accounts for about 30 percent of the state's budget, up from 17 percent in 2007. That's after budget cuts eliminated more than $873 million in state and federal spending.

Services also have been cut, including certain transplants, physical exams, dental care and podiatry. The KidsCare health insurance program for children has been frozen, saving more than $76 million and leaving nearly 80,000 children on a waiting list for health care.

The cuts in Brewer's budget proposal include about 30,000 parents, but federal officials said their Medicaid coverage could not be cut under a new Arizona plan. Another 11,000 children and 5,200 adults with a serious mental illness also would have to be covered under federal rules, but Brewer's staff have said they expect to re-qualify them under other Medicaid categories.

In her letter, Sebelius said Arizona must submit a plan by March 31 detailing how the children, parents and mentally ill will continue to receive health care, and how those who might be eliminated can be eased off coverage, "to ensure that the adverse impact on beneficiaries is minimized."

All of this is driven by conservative ideology against raising taxes on Arizona's wealthiest citizens or closing special interest loopholes (tax exemptions and credits) primarily for corporations. The concepts of "shared sacrifice" and "fiscal responsibility" simply do not exist in movement conservatism. It's all about "I got mine, screw you."