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AHCCCS will renew bid to seek premiums, copays for Medicaid enrollees
Lawmakers have been trying to impose premiums and copays on Arizona’s Medicaid enrollees starting next January, but that decision is ultimately up to the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. And if past experiences were a guide, it’s going to be a tough sell.
Medicaid director should champion patients
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Katherine Cooper has rejected arguments by Tom Betlach, director of the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System – Arizona’s Medicaid program – that he can effectively protect our state’s expanded Medicaid program by serving as sole defender in a lawsuit filed by the Goldwater Institute.
AHCCCS patients can intervene in Medicaid expansion case
Four AHCCCS patients can intervene as defendants in the lawsuit against Arizona’s Medicaid expansion program because they have a direct stake in the outcome and the program’s director may not adequately represent their interests, a Maricopa County judge said.
Group says AHCCCS director can’t be trusted to defend expansion
A liberal public interest law firm is asking a judge to allow four AHCCCS patients to intervene as defendants in the lawsuit against Medicaid expansion, arguing that the program’s director can’t be trusted to represent their interests because he answers to a governor who opposes the 2013 policy.
We’ve got your best interests at heart
The Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest wants to intervene as a defendant in the lawsuit against Medicaid expansion, arguing that AHCCCS Director Tom Betlach does not necessarily represent the interests of its clients, four childless adults that are receiving Medicaid coverage as a result of the 2013 law.
Triple threat: Hospitals could go to ballot if doomsday scenario plays out
The fiscal year 2016 budget may only the beginning of a year of bad news for Arizona hospitals, which could face a doomsday scenario depending on the outcome of two big lawsuits.
Ducey dropped as Medicaid expansion defendant
Gov. Doug Ducey will get to keep his name off of the court case over his predecessor’s controversial Medicaid expansion program.
Medicaid waiver provides opening for premiums, higher copays
The Obama administration’s willingness to cut deals with Republican states as a way of getting them to cover more people under the Affordable Care Act has given Arizona’s conservative leaders the perfect opening to push for premiums and bigger copays on Medicaid members.
Ducey proposes cuts, one-time sweeps to balance budget
Gov. Doug Ducey proposed a combination of one-time solutions and hundreds of millions of dollars in budget cuts, including big hits to universities and Medicaid providers, while Arizona waits for the economy recover enough for its budget to be structurally balanced by fiscal year 2017.
Ducey retains several Brewer agency directors
Gov. Doug Ducey announced that he will hold onto several of his predecessor’s agency directors, including the heads of AHCCCS, the Arizona Department of Corrections and the Arizona Department of Transportation.
Principles vs. practicalities: Ducey’s Medicaid dilemma
In what may be one of his first acts as governor, Doug Ducey will have to decide whether to spearhead the defense of a policy he dislikes, kick a quarter million people off AHCCCS or drop a nuclear bomb on the state’s overstretched budget by taking a principled stand.
As national debate looms, Arizona’s KidsCare freeze puts it in spotlight
Four years after Arizona froze enrollment in KidsCare, the state’s children’s health insurance program, the program is barely registering a pulse.
