Sign In
Free Newsletter
Supreme Court hears arguments on Medicaid expansion
Gov. Jan Brewer asked the Arizona Supreme Court Thursday to quash efforts by a minority of state legislators to effectively kill the expansion of the state’s Medicaid program.
Brewer attorney asks for Medicaid lawsuit dismissal
The lawyer for Gov. Jan Brewer asked a judge late Friday to block dissident lawmakers from challenging the vote of the majority of their colleagues to expand Medicaid in Arizona.
House panel kills Medicaid expansion, but battle rages on
A legislative panel today killed the Medicaid expansion portion of the state budget, leaving supporters with options that include using a strike everything amendment on a new health bill to bring the measure to a vote from the full House or suspending the House rules altogether.
Medicaid plan limits AHCCCS director power, but concerns remain
Limits on how the AHCCCS director would be able to use the unprecedented power provided under Gov. Jan Brewer’s Medicaid expansion plan have eased some worries, but not all.
Brewer proposal would put unprecedented power in AHCCCS director’s hands
By using a loophole in Proposition 108 that may allow her to sidestep the need to get a two-thirds vote for her Medicaid expansion plan, Gov. Jan Brewer would be putting an unprecedented amount of power in her AHCCCS director’s hands.
Brewer seeks $317 million in new spending, largely for K-12
The Governor’s Office unveiled an $8.9 billion budget plan today for fiscal year 2014, which included $317 million in new spending. “We’re finally comfortable using red, so that should tell you something about the state budget,” John Arnold, director of the governor’s Office of Strategic Planning and Budgeting, joked about the bright red color of the budget books distributed to the me[...]
Arizona’s handling of ‘dual eligible’ health-care recipients gets high marks
Arizona’s system for providing medical care for “dual eligible” people – those who qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid services – was praised as a promising model for other states at a Senate hearing Wednesday.
Report finds millions in AHCCCS payments to ineligible people
Arizona’s Medicaid program may spend as much as $57 million a year on ineligible recipients, according to a report by the Auditor General’s Office.
Judge upholds state Medicaid cuts
A Maricopa County Superior Court judge upheld a partial enrollment freeze for the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, rejecting a liberal advocacy group’s claims that the cuts violated a voter mandate.
Don’t ask, do yell: AHCCCS knew it might not need fed permission to cut patients, but state made a fuss anyway
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.
State to feds: Medicaid advice didn’t help
Maybe if the letter had started more warmly, with something like, “Dear Jan,” Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer would have responded less vehemently to the offer of assistance by Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
It was one of those times when ‘every’ didn’t really mean every
Despite Gov. Jan Brewer’s insistence to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius that Arizona had followed every single one of her suggestions for cutting Medicaid costs, AHCCCS still provides several optional services that could be eliminated without running afoul of federal law.
