| Arizona health care professionals are sounding the alarm that Juan Ciscomani’s health care cuts will “have devastating consequences” for both patients and providers.
Reminder of how we got here:
FIRST: Ciscomani swore he “cannot and will not” vote for legislation that reduces Medicaid coverage for those who need it.
THEN: One month later, Ciscomani voted for the largest cuts to Medicaid in history, which are projected to kick nearly 17,000 of his own constituents off their health care and could close at least five hospitals in Arizona.
LATER: Ciscomani warned that failing to extend Affordable Care Act tax credits would “leave Arizonans’ in the lurch” with up to 55% higher health care premiums.
NOW: Ciscomani skipped town instead of working to find a solution that would prevent, as one doctor put it, “a one-two punch of Medicaid cuts and higher ACA premiums.”
Read for yourself…
Arizona Mirror: Arizona doctors blame GOP for blocking health care tax credit extension
- Arizona doctors are calling on the state’s Republican congressional delegation to support the extension of health care premium tax credits, saying that allowing them to expire will have devastating consequences for hospitals and patients alike.
- “Republicans in Congress have forced this government shutdown rather than work with Democrats to make health care affordable for their constituents, our patients,” she said.
- A September poll found that the vast majority of Americans want the subsidies extended beyond the Dec. 31 deadline. Of the people surveyed, 92% who identified as Democrat said they agreed the credits should be renewed and over half, about 59%, of Republicans said the same.
- Health care advocates warn that letting the program expire could cause premiums for everyone — not just those losing the tax credits — to spike at a time when they’re already expected to increase due, in part, to the Medicaid cuts.
- Premiums in Arizona are projected to skyrocket as much as 55% next year.
- “We cannot afford a one-two punch of Medicaid cuts and higher ACA premiums,” Koyama said.
- As the ability of millions of Americans to afford health care coverage is taken away, emergency rooms will become increasingly busy, increasing the cost of health care even for people with private insurance.
- That’s because the uncompensated care hospitals are required to provide in emergency rooms is made up for by charging insurance companies more for care, which in turn is passed on to people with insurance in the form of higher premiums.
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