Hobbs says GOP’s Medicaid cuts could kill people, cut off thousands of Arizonans from health care
A massive number of Arizonans could lose their health care if the GOP's Medicaid cuts become law, according to Gov. Katie Hobbs.
Watch: Is Governor Hobbs at odds with Attorney General Kris Mayes? | 19 mins
PHOENIX — A massive number of Arizonans could lose their health care if the GOP’s Medicaid cuts become law, according to Gov. Katie Hobbs.
“Under the current plan, somewhere around 10 million Americans will lose health care coverage,” Hobbs told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Outspoken with Bruce and Gaydos on Wednesday.
The Democrat spoke hours after Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee voted in favor of President Donald Trump’s massive bill full of various tax breaks.
“These Medicaid cuts will kill people, and there is not a state in the country, I don’t believe, that has the capacity to absorb these kind of cuts. Certainly, Arizona can’t,” Hobbs said. “We might be able to put some Band-aids for a little while, but we can’t absorb the impact.”
Arizona governor says GOP bill will lead to widespread Medicaid cuts
The legislation seeks to cover the cost of $4.5 trillion in tax breaks by cutting spending to various federal services.
A significant portion of those cuts — $880 billion — will come from Medicaid, according to the Associated Press.
“It’s a lot of money and the state matches a much larger percent of what the federal government provides,” Hobbs said. “But it is not a hand out from the federal government. I want to remind people all of these cuts, these are Arizona tax dollars that we send to Washington, and they need to send it back to us for us to take care of our folks.”
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, a Republican, has said he hopes to send the bill to the U.S. Senate by Memorial Day.
“We haven’t digested the full impact of those details in Arizona, but it’s safe to say that hundreds of thousands of people stand to lose their health care,” Hobbs said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Related
Rep. Greg Stanton says Trump's budget plan would be a disaster for Arizona families
Mark Kelly, Ruben Gallego explain how potential Medicaid cuts would hurt Arizonans at town hall
Arizona erases more than $1 billion in medical debt for nearly 671,000 residents
Arizona joins 22-state lawsuit to block federal insurance rule that would gut ACA protections
Abrazo Arizona Heart Hospital expands capacity to meet Arizona’s growing heart care demand
Maricopa County drives nation-leading West Nile virus outbreak with 47 cases, 5 deaths
Comments
69 Comments
Yea, she should have said "they will die" which will be totally accurate. Where is your selective outrage that this cut to low-income health insurance pays for tax cuts for the rich? Why should people die to give the rich MORE money than they already have and frankly, can spend in their lifetimes?
So who got the majority if less than 50%. The independent? Not Kamala.
You mean like if you jump out of an airplane you could die???
Some “could” should be paid attention to. You just insinuated that we should wait and see if the worst happens before we complain. trump is taking us far down the rabbit hole at an accelerated pace. Unwise in most people’s minds. Better to ease into these wholesale changes not jump head first and berate those who are skeptical.