If a group of Republican lawmakers succeed in overturning a hospital assessment that funds the state’s 2013 Medicaid expansion, the victory could come at a tremendous cost.

In asking the federal government to extend its authority to continue Medicaid coverage for childless adults, Arizona plans to request a higher level of funding available under the Affordable Care Act.

If the feds can’t force Arizona to move forward with the massive Medicaid expansion, it’s a near certainty the Republican-led Legislature won’t do it for them. Though the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the core of President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, it ruled that the federal government couldn’t force states to expand health care for the poor by threatening to take away other Medicaid funding.

The Arizona Supreme Court is leaving intact an eligibility reduction expected to deny government-paid health care to more than 100,000 low-income people.

Rep. Matt Heinz said he sees more and more patients who are unable to afford treatment for their catastrophic health conditions. He called for the Legislature to restore funding to the Medical Expense Deduction program.

Citing the Arizona Constitution, a 2000 ballot measure and even a dictionary definition of the word “available,” attorneys for Gov. Jan Brewer have asked the Arizona Supreme Court to reject a lawsuit filed by a liberal advocacy group against an upcoming Medicaid enrollment freeze.

Gov. Jan Brewer's plan to help balance the state's budget by providing government-paid health care to fewer lower-income Arizonans is headed to court.

Confusing and roundabout language in the 2012 budget led to several days of Democratic sniping at Gov. Jan Brewer, who said the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System is on its way to restoring transplant coverage that was eliminated last year.

With Brewer pushing the Legislature to reinstate transplant coverage, Dems appeared on the verge of getting a rare political win.

A bed tax proposed by the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association is a distant Plan C in the Legislature as lawmakers look to overhaul AHCCCS, but the trade group is hoping it might win by default if lawsuits block the state from cutting its Medicaid program.