Chiropractors use opioid crisis to bolster request for Medicaid coverage
Arizona chiropractors will push for the state’s Medicaid program to cover chiropractic care in the next legislative session, the industry’s lobbyist said. And the extension of Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System coverage to chiropractors ties into efforts to combat the opioid crisis, the Arizona Association for Chiropractic claims.
State Supreme Court hears arguments on legality of Medicaid expansion
The fate of health care for 400,000 Arizonans could depend on what seven justices of the state Supreme Court believe voters said they wanted 25 years ago.
22,000 Arizona children could lose health care
The federal budget year expired Sept. 30 without lawmakers taking action to fund the Children’s Health Insurance Program for the new year. States use those dollars to provide care for about nine million children of the working poor, including 22,389 at last count in Arizona.
Health care politics, environment take the air out of asthma sufferers
The Arizona Department of Health Services estimates that the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, or AHCCCS, Arizona’s Medicaid program, pays for more than half of the estimated $115 million spent every year on asthma-related emergency room visits and hospitalizations.
State misses waiver deadline for able-bodied adults on Medicaid
Arizona missed its own deadline to send a waiver to the federal government asking for work requirements for able-bodied adults on the state’s Medicaid program.
Arizona on course to relive health care ordeal if Congress cuts Medicaid
Arizona already knows what will happen if its Medicaid program falters. In 2011, the state froze enrollment for childless adults in its Medicaid system, leading to more than 160,000 left without coverage in a relatively short amount of time.
AHCCCS wins round 1 in expansion fight
In his ruling this morning upholding the Medicaid expansion, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Douglas Gerlach wrote that the 36 GOP legislators challenging the measure failed both to prove that the hospital assessment was a tax instead of a fee and that it didn’t meet the exemptions laid out in Prop 108.
Other states’ experiences could pave the way for Ducey Medicaid reforms
The recent experiences of several other states bode well for Gov. Doug Ducey’s attempt to get federal approval for a package of proposed reforms to Arizona’s Medicaid program.
Crisis avoided: AHCCCS, Ducey say no to planned provider cuts
Gov. Doug Ducey and the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System decided not to impose substantial cuts on Medicaid providers that could have cost the state’s health care industry up to $95 million over the next three years.
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.
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.

















