Action Alert: House Appropriations Committee takes up Medicaid (AHCCCS) restoration/expansion on Monday – and a poison pill from CAP

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The House Appropriations Committee is scheduled to meet on Monday, June 10 at 10:00 a.m. in Room HHR 1 to take up the appropriations bill which includes Governor Jan Brewer's Medicaid (AHCCCS) restoration/expansion plan, SB 1492.

The Committee Chairman, John Kavanaugh, R-Fountain Hills, the man who sponsored the "show me your papers before you pee" bill, has also agreed to take up a "strike everything amendment" to SB 1069 (CPS; psychological assessments and services) as a vehicle for Mullah Cathi Herrod and her Christian Taliban at the Center for Arizona Policy (CAP) to insert a poison pill amendment to limit abortion providers’ ability to participate in Gov. Jan Brewer’s Medicaid expansion plan that Governor Brewer earlier rejected as unnecessary.

Your presence at this critical committee hearing is requested. It is time for a show of force against the opponents of Medicaid (AHCCCS) restoration/expansion who dare to call themselves "Christians." WWJD? (Matthew 25:31-46).

The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports Medicaid
anti-abortion language returns in House Approps:

A pro-life forced birth bill scheduled for a hearing in the House Appropriations Committee includes language that is nearly identical to a proposal from a leading evangelical Christian group that sought to limit abortion providers’ ability to participate in Gov. Jan Brewer’s Medicaid expansion plan.

The strike-everything amendment to SB1069 would prohibit funds from the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System from being used to “directly or indirectly” subsidize abortions, including the use of Medicaid money on administrative expenses such as building rent, employee salaries and utility costs by abortion providers. House Appropriations Chairman Rep. John Kavanagh, who sponsored the amendment, said the language was requested by the Center for Arizona Policy.

Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, said abortion providers such as Planned Parenthood that treat AHCCCS patients would have to ensure that none of the Medicaid funds they receive are used on administrative services that facilitate abortions.

State and federal law already prohibit government money from being used for abortions. But pro-life advocates argue that the money paid to groups such as Planned Parenthood for other medical services indirectly funds abortions by paying for administrative costs, such as electricity and rent, that assist all services provided by abortion providers.

“It simply says that when AHCCCS patients go to Planned Parenthood and places like that, they can’t get money if it can be co-mingled with funds that are used to operate the abortion aspect of the facility,” Kavanagh said.

Kavanagh suggested that Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers that participate in AHCCCS could create separate legal entities to ensure that the funds aren’t intertwined. The strike-everything amendment would also require AHCCCS to conduct financial audits of Medicaid providers to ensure that the money isn’t being co-mingled.

The House Appropriations Committee will hear the bill on Monday, along with the budget bill that includes Brewer’s Medicaid plan. The rest of the budget is not yet scheduled for a committee hearing.

Now is the time to make a stand and to fight for what is right and just. If you can arrange to attend this committee meeting on Monday, please be there.