There’s more riding on the Obamacare debate than just health care in Arizona
Mar 7, 2017, 5:00 AM
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
PHOENIX — If the Affordable Care Act is repealed and not replaced, Arizonans could lose more than just health care.
“What a lot of people don’t know is that public health funding that was pre-existing and programs that have been around for decades were also wrapped into the Affordable Care Act,” said Dr. Cara Christ, director of the Arizona Department of Health Services.
House Republicans released their plan to replace former President Barack Obama’s health care law on Monday, a package that would scale back the government’s role in health care and likely leave more Americans uninsured.
House committees plan to begin voting on the 123-page legislation Wednesday, launching what could be the year’s defining battle in Congress.
If the voting on the ACA doesn’t go the Republicans way and it is later repealed instead of replaced, approximately $9.3 million a year for the Prevention and Public Health Fund could be in jeopardy, according to Christ.
“These programs are public health programs that actually benefit all Arizonans,” she said.
The fund covers things like immunizations for children, infectious disease prevention and control, public health laboratory services to detect dangerous infectious diseases, childhood lead poisoning prevention, activities for prevention of chronic diseases, cancer prevention and the Arizona Smokers’ Helpline.
“The nice thing was that our governor was engaged early on,” she said. “He’s been working on repeal and replace, but he does not want the rug ripped out from anybody.”
Governors across the country were asked by U.S. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy for input into the ACA repeal and replace process and Christ says Arizona was one of the only states to include the potential danger to pre-existing public health funding in the governors’ response.
“What we’re asking our congressional delegates to do is to move those funding sources back into the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” she said. “So that those very important public health programs can be maintained.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
