Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs may not be the most charismatic Chief Executive the Grand Canyon state has ever had but unlike her immediate Republican predecessor Doug Ducey (an individual that also lacked the charisma gene,) or current occupant in the White House, people should judge her strength by her deeds on delivering for Arizonans and putting people first proving the old axiom that actions speak louder than her words.
In a ten day period that saw the Governor twice $1.8 million installments from American Rescue Plan funds to mitigate the pain to the almost million Arizonans who receive food stamps/EBT payments through the SNAP program, the Governor called attention to the economic plight faced by rural hospitals thanks to the cuts by the MAGA Project 2025 Big Billionaires-Screw Everyone Else Bill.
Visiting the White Mountain Regional Medical Center in Springerville, home to an area where many rural Trump supporters are about to get the economy hosing of a lifetime thanks in part to their support of the 34 time convicted-twice impeached-American Duce Wannabe who does not care about them, the Governor, after touring the hospital, spoke to reporters about the funding needed to sustain the health care facility.
When asked if she was worried about regional rural hospitals like White Mountain closing, the Governor replied:
“Oh, absolutely. I mean, I think all of these providers are at risk. I mean, most of what we heard today are existing challenges in delivering quality care to these communities, and that it’s going to be exacerbated. When we did Medicaid expansion in 2013, that was a big driver of it, the threat of rural hospital closures, and I know that in doing that Medicaid expansion, we saved hospitals from closure. And so we’re facing just going backwards on that progress. And I think that what we didn’t even get to in this conversation, is the economic impact on these communities. Someone mentioned, and we know this that these hospitals are the biggest employer. If people don’t have access to health care because the hospital closes, and they don’t have a job on top of that, what’s the long-term sustainability in these communities If those employers go away.”
Later, in a follow up to the challenges rural health centers like White Mountain face, the Governor offered:
“This is one of the things that’s kept me up at night constantly since the election when we knew that Medicaid cuts were going to be on the table. Even with the progress we made with Medicaid expansion, how that helped bolster up some of these providers and they’re still facing all these challenges. I worry about how, how we’re gonna make sure people have access to health care across the state. Again, the state’s going to do what we can to mitigate, but we can’t fill all these gaps.”
Last week, to help rural hospitals meet the challenges inflicted on them by Mr. Trump and his MAGA-Project 2025 band, Governor Hobbs and her team submitted a billion dollar application to the federal governments Rural Health Transformation Program.
Commenting on that in a Gubernatorial Press Release, Hobbs wrote:
“Arizonans are struggling with health care that is unaffordable and inaccessible. And rural Arizonans face challenges like potential service reductions and hospital closures, a lack of health care professionals, long wait times, insufficient access to specialty care, and outdated technology that is holding our communities back. As health care in rural Arizona continues to be under threat, I’m going to fight to deliver this critical funding for our state and protect Arizonans at risk of losing accessible and affordable health care.”
When asked about the grant at the White Mountain Regional Medical Center and how it could help the local community, Governor Hobbs responded:
“I think it’s helping us address existing gaps in healthcare in rural communities, But those gaps are going to be exacerbated when these Medicaid Cuts (From the Big Billionaires First Bill) hit, and this funding is not going to make up for those gaps.”
The Governor was also critical of the new requirements for people in the state, including those who work in rural health care facilities to receive HB-1 Visas, commenting:
“There’s a lot of policies coming out of Washington that make it hard to see how that’s putting Americans First or America First. But we’re looking at how we can address some of those gaps. We’ve done a lot of investment in workforce. Not just physicians, but healthcare providers across the board. We know there are shortages everywhere, but also specifically looking at how we can address the the medical residency slots, so that we can train more doctors here and keep more doctors here. There needs to be more incentives around rural areas, because that’s a huge gap, but it’s not something we got to overnight like many of the issues we’re facing, we’re not going to solve it overnight, but we’re looking at ways that we can address those things and given a challenging budget climate that we’re going to be entering into next year.”
Also, last week, the Governor also highlighted another moving forward cause not dear to science and climate change denying Donald Trump’s heart-clean energy.
At a ribbon cutting ceremony at Tucson Electric Power’s local battery energy storage-solar charged system, Governor Hobbs commented:
“It is critical that we not only expand our energy capacity, but that we do so in a way that is strategic and sustainable. Electric Power has been an outstanding partner in making sure that Arizonans have the power that they need, and the Roadrunner Reserve system is a prime example of their leadership and commitment to our shared future.”
Later the Governor’s team posted on social media:
Senate Democratic Leader Priya Sundareshan also attended the Tucson Electric Power event with Governor Hobbs and posted:
Battery storage projects like this are what our utilities should invest in to support renewable generation for peak demand & avoid building new fossil plants that stick ratepayers with a long term bill. Glad to join this week’s ceremony with @GovernorHobbs and @TEPenergy
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