Medicaid

Joe Arpaio's New Butt-Boy Don Shooter Wants to Give Him $1.5M of Your Money

Think Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's been doin' a bang-up job lately, and not just on that broken arm of his? See also: -Don't Tread On Me, I'm DON SHOOTER!: Senator Allegedly Assaults Teacher I mean, we hardly see "America's toughest sheriff" these days after his slip and fall earlier this ... More >>

Brewer Flips Off 600,000 Military Vets in Arizona by Axing Colonel Joey Strickland

Goldwater Institute Feeds from Tax-Exempt Trough While Decrying Cost of Medicaid Expansion

When the Goldwater Institute isn't "lending" $1.9 million to some fatcat on its board or suing the state government over a fish-foot-sucking cosmetic practice, it's arguing against the evils of expanding Arizona's Medicaid program so as to cover hundreds of thousands of poor people and pump billions ... More >>

Russell Pearce's Pal Constantin Querard Pimps Medical Marijuana Industry

As Mr. Zimmerman once crooned long ago, the times they are a changin', and though progress has generally leap-frogged our benighted state, there are odd signs that Arizona is slouching toward the 21th Century, like some rough beast come round at last. See also: -Arizona Organix Steps Out as the Sta ... More >>

Chad Campbell's "Safer Schools, Safer Communities Plan": Yay or Nay?

Arizona House Minority Leader, Democrat Chad Campbell, has offered up some legislative proposals that are supposed to target gun violence -- one of the few plans we've heard of around here that doesn't include more guns.As a whole, his plan's chance of becoming law is zero percent, but let's get an ... More >>

Chad Campbell, House Democrat, Releases Plan for Schools, Guns, and Mentally Ill

To the credit of the Arizona House Minority Leader, Democrat Chad Campbell, he unveiled a pretty wide-ranging plan to change laws related to school safety, mental health, and guns.Unfortunately for Campbell, he's in the blood-red legislature in Arizona, so let's just say it's the thought that counts ... More >>

"Pastor" Michael Salman Accused of Fraud -- Anyone Surprised?

See also: Michael Salman Indicted for AHCCCS Fraud, Faces Multiple Felony ChargesEx-gang member/Pastor Michael Salman and his wife are accused of defrauding AHCCCS -- the state's Medicaid program -- to the tune of $73,000.Salman -- the one-time party headliner for Sheriff Joe Arpaio -- was indicted ... More >>

Center for Arizona Policy Reminds Everyone Its Pathetic Laws Go Into Effect Today

Thanks to Center for Arizona Policy legislative council Josh Kredit, we were reminded today of all the mostly useless laws "supported" by CAP that are going into effect today.Kredit posted the list of CAP's bills that were passed by the Legislature and are going into effect today, which are a great ... More >>

NextCare, Arizona-Based Urgent Care Center Company, to Pay $10 Million to Feds for Filing False Claims

NextCare, a nationwide urgent-care-center company based in Phoenix, has agreed to pay the feds $10 million for submitting false claims to Medicare, Medicaid and other federal health-care programs. We had no idea turning in corrupt corporations could be so lucrative: The informant in this case, form ... More >>

Hospital Association "Optimistic" as Hardline Stances Emerge on Obamacare Ruling

Governor Jan Brewer said Thursday's Supreme Court decision on health care will lead to the "erosion of individual liberty." Congressman Ben Quayle said "[Thursday's] decision was a disaster for the American people and the American healthcare system." Beyond the expected trigger-happy partisan rhet ... More >>

A Kafka-esque Catch 22 Keeps Kini Seawright Off the AHCCCS Rolls, Thanks to Governor Brewer and the State Legislature

Healthcare Cuts for Arizona's Poor Upheld by Judge

​Hundreds of thousands of impoverished Arizonans with health problems apparently will have to tough it out following a court ruling today that upholds healthcare cuts.Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Mark Brain ruled that a group of people suing the state can't forced Arizona law ... More >>

J.D. Hayworth Blames Arizona's Medicaid Shortfall on Illegal Immigrants

J.D. Hayworth's rumored to be considering another Senate run. Let the brown-bashing commence.​Former TV pitchman J.D. Hayworth thinks the reason Arizona's medicaid program is in such bad financial shape is because it covers people who are in the country illegally. The only problem with that is Ari ... More >>

Andy Biggs, the $10 Million Chairman, and His Tuesday Night Massacre

Senator Biggs: Thanking God every day for Ed McMahon It's apropos that state Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Andy Biggs, the man primarily responsible for a bill that will drive a Ryder Truck full of nitro through the state's Medicaid program, is himself a very wealthy man.He's not ric ... More >>

Arizona Spends Nearly $5 Million on Bridges for Sheep. Still No Cash for Transplants -- Or Anything Else

​​You might think a state as strapped for cash as Arizona wouldn't have pissed away nearly $5 million on things like bridges for sheep. You'd be wrong.The Arizona Republic this morning published an article about three bridges built across the Hoover Dam that are three of the most exclusive bridg ... More >>

Russell Pearce's "Hate Humanity Tuesday" Targets AHCCCS, ABOR, and the Undocumented (Natch)

Beelzebubba Pearce's Day of Hate, on its way...To twist a line from the Bible's Book of Amos, "Let the hatred roll down like water, and stupidity like a mighty stream." This, because "justice" and "righteousness" are sorely absent in Sand Land.So shall it be in the state Senate Appropriations Commit ... More >>

Jan Brewer's Medicaid Cuts Copacetic, Claim Feds

azgovernor.govThe Obama administration hands Brewer a victory Governor Jan Brewer seems to have scored a "win," if you can call it that, in her effort to cut hundreds of thousands of childless adults from the state's Medicaid program, otherwise known as the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment Syste ... More >>

Moody's Credit-Rating Service Lowers Arizona's Outlook to "Negative," Worries About Expiration of New Sales Tax

  ​Arizona looks like a potential deadbeat to the world-famous Moody's credit-rating service. Citing concerns over a sales-tax increase set to expire in mid-2013 and a budget that relies on the federal government to make changes caused Moody's to downgrade Arizona's outlook this week f ... More >>

Kyrsten Sinema: "I Didn't Mistakenly Vote for S@#%!"

Image: Kyrsten Sinema's Facebook site Kyrsten Sinema says she was tricked, sort of, into voting for a Republican bill in the Rules Committee yesterday.​Kyrsten Sinema's pissed when she calls us back last night. "I didn't mistakenly vote for shit!" she fumes. "They explained what we were ... More >>

Governor Jan Brewer Signs Medicaid Waiver Request Bill. Nearly 300,000 Could be Removed From Program

​Arizona Governor Jan Brewer this morning signed a bill that gives her the authority to request a waiver from the federal government that would temporarily remove nearly 300,000 of the state's neediest people from the Medicaid program.The governor's plan would remove about 280,000 low-inc ... More >>

Jan. 21 In Blogs: Rodney Glassman, Misha Renteria, Best Coast, Smashburger, and Jan Brewer

​​​In the 24-hour news cycle, it can be difficult to keep up. We have the solution. Check back on Valley Fever every evening for highlights from each of New Times' blogs. Today's entries:

Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne Throws AG's Office into Crusade Against Obama-Care

James KingAttorney General Tom Horne has a few problems with President Obama's health care plan.​Newly sworn in Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne announced today that he's planning to do something his predecessor, Terry Goddard, refused to do: throw the Arizona Attorney General's Office into the ... More >>

Jan Brewer's Response to Jared Loughner? Slash Services from an Already Beleaguered Mental-Health System

Sidebar: Whose Dole Is It, Anyway?

Sidebar: Mexican Macroeconomics

Russell Pearce's "Psycho Talk" on AHCCCS

Schultz rips Pearce for his crazy talk on Brahm Resnik's Sunday Square-OffJust another reminder of what the local Republinuts -- led by neo-Nazi-huggin' state Senate President-elect Russell Pearce -- have in mind for you one million-plus folks down on your luck, or those about to be in this economy: ... More >>

An Immigrant's Heart

To survive the ordeal of escaping Guatemala, Julia needed a big Heart. But not this big

From Brewer to Arpaio, No One's Listening to the Experts About How to Save Money or Protect Civil Rights and Public Safety When It Comes to Juvenile Corrections

John McCain Calls Massachusetts Senate Election a "Wake-Up Call" for Politicians in Washington

​Arizona Senator John McCain is looking at last night's Massachusetts Senate election as the "wake-up" call that could change how business is done in the nation's capitol. "Last night, a shot was fired around this nation ... saying no more business as usual in Washington, D.C.,"&nbs ... More >>

Goddard Tells Congressional Delegation to Drop "Nebraska Compromise" From Health Care Bill

Attorney General Terry Goddard​Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard is doing something fairly out of character: Taking a stance on a controversial issue.  Goddard sent a letter to the Arizona congressional delegation today urging them to oppose a provision of the national health care bill t ... More >>

Suicidal Tendencies: The Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections Is a Bloody Mess

Arty Girl: Final Days of Auction Fundraiser at Cone Arts Gallery

11x14 print of Georgia O'Keefe taken at the Ghost Ranch, 1975, donated by Dan Budnik .This could be yours...for a good cause.​If you're on facebook and you're "friended" any of the artsy folks downtown, the name Rich Zandlo should ring a bell.Zandlo suffers from Cystic Fibrosis, a devastating gene ... More >>

November 3 In Blogs: Yucca Tap Room, Smeeks, Jan Brewer, and Kenny G

​In the 24-hour news cycle it can be difficult to keep up. We have the solution. Check back on Valley Fever every evening for highlights from each of New Times' blogs. Today's entries: Up on the Sun: Club Candids: Yucca Tap Room on Halloween Night Kenny G and Weezer Collaborate, Plan to Conq ... More >>

Governor Jan Tells Baucus His Health Care Plan Will Hurt Arizona; She Still Lives Here?

​Governor Jan Brewer, who has stayed out of the spotlight for the last few weeks, sent a letter to U.S. Senator Max Baucus yesterday outlining for him exactly why she thinks his health care reform plan could be the straw that breaks Arizona's economic back.In the letter, Brewer discussed the heavy ... More >>

Lost in Translation: Autism Is Tough to Diagnose and Treat – and for Immigrant Families, It Can Be Impossible

Jan Brewer: Herbert Hoover in High Heels and a Pantsuit

Separated at birth? According to economist Paul Krugman, it's possible. Will soon-to-be Arizona Governor Jan Brewer repeat the mistakes of Republicans in the midst of the Great Depression, specifically those of President Herbert Hoover?It seems likely. With a GOP-led legislature intent on "starv ... More >>

Letters From the Issue of Thursday, April 13, 2006

A Legal Matter

Litigators and legislators play chicken-or-egg with nursing home issues

Hope I Die Before I Get Old

Arizona has the power to make nursing homes provide good care. Too bad it doesn't use it

Kid Row

Isolated, abused and lacking mental health care, do juvenile offenders leave state custody in worse shape than when they went in?

Critical Connection

Language isn't the only thing getting lost in the translation as Hispanic patients struggle to communicate with English-speaking ER doctors

War of the Wards

Phoenix Children's Hospital, for years hidden inside Good Samaritan hospital, seems to have been misplaced by the federal government

AHCCCS to Grind

Feds probe deeply into state health agency

Codger in the Wry

Rappaport pumps Geritol into the "grumpy old men" genre

20/20 Hindsight

As network news shows begin investigating alleged AHCCCS abuses, the Arizona Republic finally takes notice

The Health-Care Mirage

GOP boosters say Arizona's medical system for the poor should be a model for national health-care reform. But three federal investigations question whether Arizona's system is any less expensive than traditional Medicaid plans.

A Three-Pronged Probe

State's AHCCCS program under investigation by trio of federal agencies

FLASHES

DEAD AND FORGOTTEN

THE STATE'S MEDICAL SYSTEM FOR THE POOR DOESN'T KNOW WHETHER ITS CLIENTS ARE DEAD OR ALIVE. AND THAT'S HARDLY THE WORST OF THE PROBLEMS AT THE ARIZONA HEALTH CARE COST CONTAINMENT SYSTEM.

A WORD TO THE WISE: DON'T GET SICK