HCA255 Health Care Access
Health Care Access in Arizona
Heidi Haugen
Grand Canyon University: HCA 255
February 1, 2015
Health Care Access in Arizona Recently the Untied States top priority has been to provide accessible and affordable health care to every American. Those that lack access to coverage find it much more difficult to seek proper treatment and when they do they maybe left with astronomical medical bills. The CommanWealth Fund found that one-third or thirty three percent of Americans forgo health care because of costs and one-fifth or twenty percent are thus left with medical bills that have problems being able to pay. The federal government, through the Affordable Care Act (2010), has mandated that every person have health coverage in order to insure them proper access to medical care and preventive care. Each state is thus left to decide how they want to remove their own state’s barriers to access and provide coverage. In Arizona, governor Jan Brewer has proposed to expand Medicaid and KidsCare, through some opposition, as a means to improve health care access. Historically Arizona was one of the last states to implement Medicaid back in 1982, which was seventeen years after then President Lyndon Johnson signed the program into law. Arizona only implemented the program because if they did not they faced the tax dollars that Arizonans pay to the federal government going to other states to fund similar programs. Since then they have made steady progress to insure many individuals. In 2000, Arizona voters passed Proposition 204 to expand Medicaid expansion to residents below a hundred percent of the poverty level and quickly after that Arizona made an agreement with the federal government through a waiver agreement for Arizona to receive federal matching funds to cover the Medicaid population of adults without children, which was a population that did not usually get funding (Roy, A. 2013). During the recession, Medicaid spending rose drastically and Arizona faced a
Heidi Haugen
Grand Canyon University: HCA 255
February 1, 2015
Health Care Access in Arizona Recently the Untied States top priority has been to provide accessible and affordable health care to every American. Those that lack access to coverage find it much more difficult to seek proper treatment and when they do they maybe left with astronomical medical bills. The CommanWealth Fund found that one-third or thirty three percent of Americans forgo health care because of costs and one-fifth or twenty percent are thus left with medical bills that have problems being able to pay. The federal government, through the Affordable Care Act (2010), has mandated that every person have health coverage in order to insure them proper access to medical care and preventive care. Each state is thus left to decide how they want to remove their own state’s barriers to access and provide coverage. In Arizona, governor Jan Brewer has proposed to expand Medicaid and KidsCare, through some opposition, as a means to improve health care access. Historically Arizona was one of the last states to implement Medicaid back in 1982, which was seventeen years after then President Lyndon Johnson signed the program into law. Arizona only implemented the program because if they did not they faced the tax dollars that Arizonans pay to the federal government going to other states to fund similar programs. Since then they have made steady progress to insure many individuals. In 2000, Arizona voters passed Proposition 204 to expand Medicaid expansion to residents below a hundred percent of the poverty level and quickly after that Arizona made an agreement with the federal government through a waiver agreement for Arizona to receive federal matching funds to cover the Medicaid population of adults without children, which was a population that did not usually get funding (Roy, A. 2013). During the recession, Medicaid spending rose drastically and Arizona faced a
References: Cheney, K. (2013). Politico. Arizona’s Jan Brewer becomes unlikely ally of Obamacare. Retrieved from http://www.politico.com/story/2013/06/arizona-jan-brewer-medicaid-obamacare-92304.html Roy, A. (2013). Forbes. How a GOP govenrnor walked Arizona into Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion trap. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2013/01/19/how-jan-brewer-walked-arizona-into-obamacares-medicaid-expansion-trap/ Schoen, C., Osborn, R., Squires, D., Doty, M., Pierson, R., and Applebaum, S. (2010). The CommonWealth Fund. How health insurance design affects access to care and costs, by income, in elven countries. Retrieved from http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/in-the-literature/2010/nov/how-health-insurance-design-access-care-costs Whiteman, M (2014). Arizona Capital Times. As national debate looms, Arizona’s KidsCare freeze put in spotlight. Retrieved from http://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2014/05/13/as-national-debate-looms-arizonas-kidscare-freeze-puts-it-in-spotlight/