Paying for Health Care

Jan Brewer's Medicaid Expansion Plan Passes Legislature

Despite the outcry from the state's far-right-wingers, Governor Jan Brewer's plan for Medicaid expansion plan now only requires her signature to become law.While it certainly seemed odd that Brewer would embrace a part of "Obamacare," months after shoving her finger in President Obama's face, she wa ... More >>

Jan Brewer Called an "Ally of Obamacare" -- Is it Really Surprising?

Right next to what you would expect to be a story about hell freezing over is a story with the headline "Arizona's Jan Brewer becomes unlikely ally of Obamacare" in Politico.Seeing as Governor Jan Brewer has signed budgets that call for cuts in Medicaid coverage (remember the transplant debacle?), a ... More >>

Does Governor Jan Brewer's Fight to Expand Medicaid Change Your Opinion About Her?

A few short years ago, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer became the hero of most conservatives and the villain to most liberals when she signed the anti-Mexican SB1070 bill into law. Now, with Brewer possibly staking her legacy -- as USA Today put it recently -- on the Medicaid fight, she's dividing righ ... More >>

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 >>

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 >>

Arizona Congressmen Repeat "Lie of the Year" About "Obamacare," and Vernon Parker's Set to Run It on TV

The thought that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act -- also known as "Obamacare" -- is a "government takeover" of health care has been repeated over, and over, and over again since the spring of 2009.That thought earned the label of "Lie of the Year" by PolitiFact, a fact-checking outlet ... 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 >>

"Obamacare": Nancy Barto, Senate Health Chair, Drops Multiple Debunked Talking Points About Law, Including the "Lie of the Year"

Republican state Senator Nancy Barto is the chairman of the Senate Healthcare and Medical Liability Reform Committee, which would make you think Barto knows a thing or two about how health care works.After taking a look at her comments on the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the Patient Protection ... More >>

State: Severely Disabled Kid Not Close to Qualifying for Aid

Kyrsten Sinema's Hilary Rosen Moment, and Her Persistent Verbal Flubbery

Sinema's statement on Iran starts 2:48 in, her comments on health care at around 6:03The flap over center-left talking head Hilary Rosen and her perceived insult of Mitt Romney's wife Ann offers a perfect example of how mere verbal flubs can offer ammunition to right-wingers in the highly-charged pa ... More >>

Arizona Bill Calls for "Freedom" in Prescription Drug Coverage -- Unless You're a Woman and Your Boss Can Cite a Diety

​The Arizona Senate is currently considering a bill -- which has already been passed by the House -- that would keep all of the existing prescription drug coverage you're getting through your employer or health insurance company... if you're a dude.If you're a woman, and Jesus or a similar figure ... More >>

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 >>

Poetic Ending

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 >>

Morning Poll: Is Asking County Employees to Submit to Saliva Swabs for Nicotine Analysis an Invasion of Privacy?

www.sonofthesouth.com​The Arizona Republic yesterday got the scoop that several Maricopa County employees are getting fussy over having to submit to saliva swabs for nicotine analysis to prove that they don't use tobacco products in order to be eligible for lower insurance premiums than non-tobbac ... 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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

Sidebar: Whose Dole Is It, Anyway?

John McCain Campaign Fires Back at J.D. Hayworth Over "False" Ad

​Senate hopeful J.D. Hayworth's latest TV ad has given the John McCain campaign an opportunity to re-package the old "wrestling match with a pig" analogy. As the saying goes, getting into one is a bad idea because "you both get dirty and the pig likes it."The McCain campaign would argue that H ... More >>

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 >>

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 >>

Governor Jan Brewer Announces New Medicaid Chief

​ In an announcement from the ninth floor today, Governor Jan and the brew crew confirm that Anthony Rodgers will be leaving his position as head of the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, and the administration has already found a replacement. "I am pleased today to announce the app ... 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 >>

Billionaires for Wealthcare Befuddle Far Right Wackjobs On Healthcare Reform

The billionaires join ranks with the Obama-haters in this new Dennis Gilman video. In the tradition of Michael Moore and the stunts he regularly pulled in his TV show The Awful Truth (and continues to pull in his films), come the Billionaires for Wealthcare, a crew of wannabe-Warren Buffets w ... More >>

A legal battle with Wal-Mart over injury benefits broke this elderly store greeter’s spirit

War of the Wards

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

Doctoring the Bills?

FBI investigates possible Medicare fraud in county health-care system

AHCCCS to Grind

Feds probe deeply into state health agency

Intergroupies

Despite its dismal record insuring state workers, Intergroup has been welcomed back with open arms. The move has some employees seething.

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

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

THOSE "UNPROFITABLE" CANCER VICTIMS

"CANCEL" IS ALSO A DEADLY WORD FOR MANY ARIZONANS WHO ARE LOSING HEALTH INSURANCE