Arizona Capitol Times Your Inside Source for Arizona Government, Politics and Business

Hospitals across the nation are threatening that unless state lawmakers implement the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s — Obamacare — Medicaid expansion, the law’s new taxes and spending cuts will lead to layoffs and closures.

Far from a “relatively minor expansion” of 57,000 Arizonans, Gov. Jan Brewer’s proposal could add as many as 450,000 people to AHCCCS. In addition to the expansion population, we will be adding those formerly eligible people who were frozen out in 2010.

Gov. Jan Brewer has set as a top priority that the state expand Medicaid to become eligible for a nine-to-one federal match instead of the current two-to-one match.

Our state faces compelling choices for deciding our future. Resolving the current legislative stalemate over Medicaid will determine whether hundreds of thousands will qualify for health coverage and our state budget can begin to return to an effective level.

Every day, parents and guardians in Arizona entrust the vulnerable members of their families to the drivers, operators and supervisors of school buses.

It’s no secret. Millions of Americans struggle with mental health issues. They’re ordinary people who make extraordinary contributions, each in their own, unique way.

The effectiveness of economic development programs has long been hotly debated. Recent events, like the closing of Suntech’s manufacturing facility in Goodyear, have given rise to a new wave of criticism by organizations like the Arizona Tax Research Association, the Arizona Free Enterprise Club and the Goldwater Institute — most of it unwarranted and unsubstantiated.

Byron Schlomach’s recent editorial, “Standing on principle can be costly,” challenges lawmakers to stand up for a “principle” when making a choice about Medicaid expansion. He describes exaggerated worst case scenarios that fail to acknowledge the certain bleak reality that will occur if the Legislature does nothing to restore Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) coverage for childless adults.

Since January, many of us at the state Capitol have been trying to determine a common-sense way to approach reliable health care for our neediest citizens. It is clear that a full expansion of our Medicaid program to 133 percent above the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) will add 400,000 patients or more to an already overloaded system. After carefully studying this complex issue, I have determined the plan is unsustainable and potentially harmful to hardworking Arizona taxpayers.

Mental health care may be one of the biggest unmet needs of our time. Nearly one in two people in the United States will suffer from depression, anxiety disorders or another mental health ailment at some point in their life, and about one in 17 Americans currently has a serious mental illness.