Arizona Republic

By: Ken Alltucker

House Republicans this week pushed through legislation that seeks to dramatically overhaul the government-funded insurance program that covers nearly 2 million low-income and disabled Arizonans.

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In Arizona’s initial waiver application, the state said that its proposals would have a “positive effect on budget neutrality” without providing data to back up that claim, according to Joan Alker, executive director at the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University. “These are complicated things that are going to require the state to monitor many aspects of peoples’ lives,” Alker said. “In addition to being bad health policy, they are very complicated and expensive to administer.”

“We’re very concerned,” said Dana Wolfe Naimark, president and CEO of Children’s Action Alliance. “Medicaid funds are being slashed. Every state is going to be under enormous pressure to cut.”

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