Mark Kelly, Ruben Gallego explain how potential Medicaid cuts would hurt Arizonans at town hall

PHOENIX — U.S. Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego of Arizona hosted their first joint town hall on Monday.

The two Democrats sat down with over 100 constituents concerned about potential cuts to the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS), Arizona’s Medicaid agency.

Their concerns stem from a budget plan that includes sweeping spending cuts that Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives passed last month.

“There’s no way they get to those tax cuts without cutting Medicaid,” Gallego said at the Scottsdale event. “The math doesn’t math.”

Why are potential Medicaid cuts a concern for Arizona’s senators?

“The big thing that’s coming up is their attempt, the Republicans’ attempt, this president’s attempt, to extend his giant tax cut for millionaires and billionaires that he did in 2017,” Kelly said.

He said there are two ways President Donald Trump’s administration is trying to attain this tax cut. One is by the sweeping layoffs launched by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

“They’re trying to get another trillion dollars and that is where the Medicaid, Medicare discussion comes in. They want to cut about $880 billion dollars from Medicaid, Medicare, or both,” Kelly said. “All this stuff you’re hearing every single day is so they can give a big giant tax cut to people who need a tax guy.”

While the Medicaid cuts haven’t come to pass, they’re a very real possibility, Kelly added.

“Medicaid is the foundation of our health care system in the state of Arizona,” Kelly said. “You kick 750,000 people off of Medicaid, that means those resources from the federal government aren’t going to be here anymore.”

This means Arizona hospitals will have to cut their staffs and many health center facilities will close down, he added.

What happened at the town hall focusing on potential Medicaid cuts?

Over a hundred people joined the town hall and shared their concerns with the senators, including a mother named Quianna Brown, who adopted a foster child with special needs. Her daughter received full coverage while in foster care, but now that she’s found a family, she’s no longer automatically eligible for Medicaid, Brown said.

“We feel incredibly powerless trying to plan for our family,” Brown said. “Would you mind telling your colleagues in Washington that when they’re burning down this house, there’s people still inside?”

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Heidi Hommel contributed to this report.

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