Gov. Doug Ducey. Obviously.
Gov. Doug Ducey (R-AZ) has accomplished something stunning: he's made former Gov. Jan Brewer
look good.
On Friday, Gov. Doug Ducey (R) approved a measure that seeks to tighten the state requirements for Medicaid eligibility, ultimately limiting public health insurance to fewer residents. The legislation proposes requiring the program's recipients to be employed in order to qualify for assistance and kicking them out of the program after they've been enrolled for five years.
A nearly identical bill was vetoed last year by former Gov. Jan Brewer (R)—one of the Republican leaders who bucked her party and embraced Obamacare's optional Medicaid expansion when she was in office. In 2014, Brewer estimated that a five-year limit on Medicaid benefits would drop nearly 213,000 adults and 253,500 children from the rolls. She said that, since all of those newly uninsured people would end up seeking uncompensated care at hospitals without any insurance to pick up the tab, Arizona's health care system would be pushed to "the breaking point."
Ducey's office, on the other hand, released a statement on Friday saying that the new legislation will "ensure that we have a responsible Medicaid program that protect taxpayers and provide care to those who need it the most."
Those who "need it most" are apparently non-disabled people who can work and who won't need to be on the program for life. The good news for low-income disabled Arizonans is that the state doesn't have final word on making these kinds of draconian, sweeping changes. Because the program is funded in partnership between the federal government and the states, changes like this have to be approved by the feds. And this one won't be. That won't keep Arizona Republicans from trying: this legislation requires that they submit a proposal to the feds to make these cuts every year.