COVID-19 & Healthcare

By Craig McDermott, cross-posted from Random Musings

Correction added on 5/15 – during my initial perusal of SB1492, it
appeared as if some Medicaid expansion provisions were included in it
already.  While there are some changes to AHCCCS provisions contained in
it, they are minor and *not* part of a Medicaid restoration package.

Well, the Senate has introduced its budget package, placing the
Medicaid restoration plan in the budget itself but adding a kicker, SB1493.

It has the rather innocuous subject of "elections; omnibus".

It really should be called "extortion; all-in-one; every bad election-related scheme offered by the Republicans this year".

There's
summarily removing voters from the permanent early voting list (PEVL),
effectively barring most schools from serving as polling places, making
successful recall elections all but impossible, barring organizations
and campaigns from collecting and returning early ballots, elevating
administrative barriers to initiative petition drives, and more.

Any one scheme would render a bill "unpassable" (and has, many times during this session); placing them all in one bill means that the Senate leadership (read: Andy Biggs) expects factors other than the merits of the proposals to influence legislators' votes on the bill.

The other bills in the package are:

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The TanMan, Weeper of the House John Boehner, the "Worst. Speaker. Ever.", has scheduled a vote in Congress this week to repeal "ObamaCare," not that the 39th time will be the charm, but because freshman Tea Party ideologues who have not had their chance to vote to repeal "ObamaCare" want their opportunity to vote against "ObamaCare," because it makes 'em feel good.

The Hill reported, ObamaCare repeal vote next week in House:

In a nod to the right, House Republican leaders will once again seek to repeal President Obama’s healthcare law next week.

The
decision, announced Wednesday by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor
(R-Va.), represents a shift by top Republicans in the lower chamber.

After
the 2012 election, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said ObamaCare is the
“law of the land” while Cantor indicated Republicans should torpedo
parts of the health overhaul. 

But conservative rank-and-file
members balked, saying freshman GOP members should have the opportunity
to vote on a full repeal measure. Republican leaders agreed.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

You can file this one under stupid shit the Goldwater Institute says and that reporters unquestionly repeat as mere stenographers. You can cross-file it under stupid shit that Tea-Publicans believe but which has no basis in the reality based world (they believe in confidence fairies and unicorns, i.e., the entirely disproved and discredited faith based supply-side "trickle down" GOP economic theory).

The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports Medicaid expansion critics question viability of hospital tax:

Opponents of Gov. Jan Brewer’s Medicaid
expansion plan are concerned the proposed hospital tax that would pay
for Arizona’s share of the new AHCCCS coverage may not last long,
leaving the state on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars a
year.

Christina Corieri, a health care policy analyst at the conservative
Goldwater Institute, said the National Commission on Fiscal
Responsibility and Reform, often referred to as the Simpson-Bowles
commission, has proposed eliminating states’ ability to use hospital
taxes to pay for their share of Medicaid costs. Even President Obama and
leading congressional Democrats have floated the idea of scaling back
provider taxes, she said, which are currently capped at 5.5 percent of a
hospital’s revenue.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Announcement from Congressman Grijalva: Community Forum on Health Care for Women and Children hosted by Congressman Grijalva You are Cordially InvitedCommunity Forum on Health Care for Women & ChildrenMay 29th from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Please join Congressman Raúl M. Grijalva, including national and community health center experts, to discuss health … Read more

By Craig McDermott, cross-posted from Random Musings   Another week of steadily twiddling thumbs at the state capitol. The hangup still seems to be AHCCCS/Medicaid restoration. Many of the Rs in the legislature, led by Senate President Andy Biggs (R-Gilbert) have dug in their heels, blocking anything.  It's gotten so bad that the Arizona Republic … Read more