Jan Brewer Medicaid Cuts May Slam Hospitals As Patients Lose Funding

Bloomberg:

When 62-year-old John Schoenhoft's abnormal heartbeat landed him in a Cottonwood, Arizona, hospital for three days in August, he had no insurance, his hours as a home health caregiver had been cut and his wife was out of work.

Taxpayers picked up his $30,000 bill under Arizona's Medicaid system. Whether it would cover a future occurrence will depend on Governor Jan Brewer's plan to strike as many as 280,000 adults from Medicaid, the health-care program for the poor funded by the state and federal governments, to help bridge a $1.2 billion budget gap for the year that begins July 1.

Read the whole story: Bloomberg

Comments

[GrumpyinAZ]

09:28 PM on 04/29/2011

Looks like if Granny is not already on Medicaid, she will be coming to live with you. This law will destroy the Nursing Home Industry in Arizona and throw many elderly into the street

[rockyrococoAZ]

08:25 PM on 03/02/2011

Good job Amanda!

[gray375]

05:16 PM on 03/01/2011

AZ: Living the Tea Party Dream

[hauruck]

04:29 PM on 03/01/2011

...isn't this the same lazy-eyed farm animal that railed about "death panels"?

[nypapajoe]

03:59 PM on 03/01/2011

How difficult is it to understand that there are PEOPLE who have been layed off, lost their homes and life savings and can not afford health care! Then there are those that have been wiped out of their life savings because of a love one or child has had a major illness or injury and the medical bills are no longer affordable! Give thanks to your God that you have not suffered like the unfortunate!

[rcampbell]

02:13 PM on 03/01/2011

This is another example of Republicans defending SOCIALISM. By dropping 280,000 Arizonans from the Medicaid roles (I won't even get into the lack of morality issues here) shifts the burden of health care costs to the tax payers, those of us who have insurance and the providers. The state won't incur the cost, but the rest in the state will. Somehow Brewer and other republicans think this form of welfare is good instead of requiring all Americans to act responsibly by having their own insurance. For the record, as an AZ resident I perfectly will to have my taxes raised to pay for these peoiple getting health care.

[nypapajoe]

03:59 PM on 03/01/2011

How difficult is it to understand that there are PEOPLE who have been layed off, lost their homes and life savings and can not afford health care! Then there are those that have been wiped out of their life savings because of a love one or child has had a major illness or injury and the medical bills are no longer affordable! Give thanks to your God that you have not suffered like the unfortunate!

[jimfl]

01:10 PM on 03/01/2011

Boycott this cesspool state.

[mug555]

12:58 PM on 03/01/2011

This is the death panel, Sarah was talking about. Not the health care bill, but lack of a health care bill. As usual, Sarah got things backwards.

[Ouroboros Rex]

02:28 PM on 03/01/2011

Oh, Brewer already set up _actual_ death panels in the transplant sector. Exactly as described.

[mea25]

12:12 PM on 03/01/2011

Is Jan Brewer trying to get a gun named after herself?

[gladhart1]

10:55 AM on 03/01/2011

AZ has to have one of the largest medicare populations in the country - ironic isn't it? Old people get all kinds of health care but younger people who are sick and need medicaid are turned away? This makes no sense whatsoever! Universal health care for all! "We are all human beings with 5.5 liters of blood", to quote a wonderful humanitarian.

[Statusnaturae]

09:09 AM on 03/01/2011

Arizona has spent 1.5 million defending sb 1070.

[follygirl]

08:48 AM on 03/01/2011

Cutting Medicaid is a back door tax to those who have insurance. When will supporters of Brewer see that? Maybe they'll figure it out when they loose their health insurance.

[Ouroboros Rex]

02:29 PM on 03/01/2011

All part of the plan - raising insurance premiums via republican theft - to blame on Obamacare.

[Modest1981]

07:41 AM on 03/01/2011

"Fiscal conservatives" will be less focused on the fiscal aspect of this once they or their families face the grim reality of health-care-induced bankruptcy.

[BMVB]

07:17 AM on 03/01/2011

Isn't this ironic with all the talk about health care reform including death panels . www.sportbloggers.com

[Mister Wu]

06:36 AM on 03/01/2011

We got to cut Medicaid roles as we are simply out of money. coporate America stole it all.

[aznurse]

07:17 AM on 03/01/2011

We are NOT out of money!

[Mattcat25]

04:24 PM on 03/01/2011

If we were, Republicans would leave.