The Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association today ripped Brewer's new AHCCCS proposal's "deep and devastating cuts."

Arizona Capitol Times reporter Jeremy Duda joins Arizona Week to discuss the proposed cuts to Arizona's Medicaid program.

On Feb. 15, when U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius informed Arizona that it could cut 250,000 people from Medicaid without federal permission, it wasn’t nearly as much of a surprise for Gov. Jan Brewer as it was for most Arizonans.

Brewer and AHCCCS kept the information about the possible implications of the expiration of the demonstration waiver inhouse, and didn’t mention it to legislative leadership.

A divided Arizona Senate committee voted Wednesday to eliminate the cash-short state's Medicaid program and replace it with a much smaller system that would cover only a fraction of low-income people now served.

An influential legislator says Arizona should eliminate its Medicaid program because neither the cash-short state nor the debt-ridden federal government can afford it.

A second person denied transplant coverage by Arizona under a state budget cut has died, with this death "most likely" resulting from the coverage reduction, a hospital spokeswoman said Wednesday.

The Arizona Legislature has taken the first step to repeal cuts to health care programs in order to comply with the federal health care law and avoid losing nearly $8 billion in federal funding.

Republican lawmakers angry at a proposed ballot initiative backed by Arizona hospitals that would raise taxes for the wealthiest residents to pay for some health care programs are fighting back by proposing to instead tax hospitals and other providers.

A judge's ruling that allows the state's Medicaid system to charge fees to some patients will generate an additional $21 million a year for Arizona's staggering budget deficits.