Ciscomani Was Right: Republican Tax Law Threatens Health Care Coverage for All
TUCSON — Health care leaders met last week to discuss the Republican Tax Law and made it clear that they agree with Congressman Juan Ciscomani that his vote for the law threatens access to care.
Before voting for the Republican Tax Law, which will kick more than 15 million Americans off their Medicaid and Affordable Care Act Marketplace coverage while also giving massive tax breaks to billionaires and corporations, Ciscomani told senators the law "threatens access to coverage" and "jeopardizes the stability of our hospitals and providers."
According to the Arizona Mirror:
“The Medicaid cuts that President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress approved last month will mean higher premiums, longer wait times and reduced services for everyone in Arizona, local health care leaders said Thursday.
The alarming picture painted by a panel of health care leaders is a direct result of Trump’s [Republican Tax Law] which was backed by all of Arizona’s Republican congressmen. Medicaid provides insurance to 80 million Americans and around two million Arizonans — more than 25% of the state’s residents — with low incomes or disabilities. The new spending law means an estimated 300,000 Arizonans are expected to lose coverage through the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, or AHCCCS, the state’s Medicaid program.
‘They still get sick,’ Beth Kohler, CEO of the Arizona Association of Health Plans, said of those who will be kicked off of Medicaid. “They still need health care. So, they still go to the hospitals, and the hospitals are required to provide emergency-level care to people who need it.”
Instead of seeing a primary care doctor, Arizonans who lose insurance through AHCCCS are likely to put off treatment until they’re in crisis and head to an emergency room.
That means that instead of getting a handle on a health problem early on, more people will wait to see a doctor until it’s an emergency, and hospitals will be on the hook to provide that more expensive care. That could lead hospitals to make tough decisions to close departments and lay off staff.
When Arizonans are kicked off of AHCCCS, they also lose access to mental health services, said Candy Espino, CEO of the Arizona Council of Human Service Providers. That has the potential to lead to hospitalization, homelessness or incarceration.
The cuts are expected to slash an estimated $1 trillion from federal Medicaid funding across the country over the next 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Those cuts and others, including to food assistance programs, were implemented to pay for tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy.
“Congressman Juan Ciscomani knew that the Republican Tax Law would cut his constituents’s health care – he even put it in writing – but at the end of the day he still voted for it and now we're all stuck with higher monthly premiums, hospitals on the brink of closure, or no health care at all," said Andrea Moreno, Executive Director of Honest Arizona.
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