The “Kochtopus” Death Star, the Goldwater Institute, seamlessly representing the GOP leadership of the Arizona Legislature, is appealing from the dismissal of their case on grounds of lack of standing to sue to block the state of Arizona from expanding Medicaid (AHCCCS), with the intended consequence of taking away medical care to many thousands of Arizonans who now have gained access to health care thanks to “ObamaCare.” Their preferred health care plan for the poor is the Ebeneezer Scrooge Plan: “Perhaps you should die, and decrease the surplus population.” Republican lawmakers fighting against Medicaid program in court:
Republican lawmakers asked the state Court of Appeals Wednesday to give them a chance to prove that hundreds of millions of dollars being used to support an expanded Medicaid program are being collected illegally.
Attorney Christina Sandefur [self-described “libertarian constitutional lawyer and freedom fighter”] told the judges the Arizona Constitution is clear: Any measure that raises taxes or increases revenues can be enacted only with approval of two-thirds of both the state House and Senate.
But last year’s vote to impose the levy on hospitals to finance the program – Gov. Jan Brewer calls an assessment and not a tax – did not get that margin. That, she said, makes it not only illegal but also deprives her lawmakers, who make up more than a third of both chambers, of their constitutional right to block the fee.
Sandefur is making her case to the appellate court because Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Katherine Cooper ruled last year the lawmakers who opposed the tax, who make up more than a third of both the House and Senate, have no right to sue because they had not been injured.
Judge Cooper said only those injured by the tax, meaning the hospitals, have standing to challenge it.
