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Local healthcare providers fear impending changes to Medicaid eligibility could leave hundreds of thousands of Arizonans without coverage, forcing people to delay care until they face health emergencies — resulting in overcrowded emergency rooms and higher costs, even for people with insurance.
The “One Big Beautiful Bill” that Republicans and Trump passed last year slashed nearly $800 billion from Medicaid over the next decade and added new eligibility requirements to the program. Starting in 2027, certain adult recipients will be required to work, go to school, volunteer or participate in another approved activity for at least 80 hours a month or earn at least $580 a month to keep their healthcare coverage.
States and public health advocates are bracing for millions to lose coverage. A recent survey found that nearly half of all current Medicaid enrollees are unprepared to submit the necessary documentation to remain on their state Medicaid plans.
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Dr. Eve Shapiro, a Tucson pediatrician, criticized the new eligibility requirements during a virtual roundtable Thursday morning. She said the work quotas are unfair for many Medicaid recipients who struggle with complicated or long-term health conditions.
And she pointed out that the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, the state’s Medicaid plan, supports public health by helping low-income Arizonans access preventative care. Shrinking that access, Shapiro warned, will only lead to more Arizonans suffering dangerous health risks.
“If someone with asthma can’t afford a prescription, a manageable condition can become an emergency,” she said. “When someone with diabetes misses appointments or goes without treatment, the consequences can be devastating. When someone undergoing cancer treatment loses coverage, even a temporary interruption can jeopardize their health.”
For Garrett Newell, who lives with cerebral palsy, losing access to AHCCCS isn’t an option. The Tucson native relies on the program to afford the expensive specialists and physical therapy that help him manage his coordination difficulties. Newell said that the federal government shouldn’t be threatening to take away the critical care that helps disabled people lead independent lives.
“We shouldn’t have to live with fear that a letter in the mail could mean losing our access to lifelong healthcare,” he said. “I know firsthand that people with disabilities are already facing challenges without having to fight to keep their medical coverage that makes our independence possible.”
The funding cuts and eligibility rules are expected to harm the budgets of hospitals and health clinics that depend on federal funding. More than 400 hospitals are at risk of closure across the country.
Maria Manzanarez, an intensive care unit nurse at St. Mary’s Hospital in Tucson, said it has already begun laying off clinical staff in anticipation of the cuts, which she said negatively affects the quality and availability of the care all patients receive. And, she said, it will result in future surges of patients with emergency conditions as those without coverage delay their care until they’re facing life threatening issues.
Manzanarez said that there are already too many people without access to affordable healthcare who put off medical care until they can’t anymore, sharing a story about a homeless man in Tucson who ended up in the ICU because he wasn’t able to afford insulin.
“This all could have avoided an emergency room visit but he delayed care and wound up in our ICU with a life threatening illness,” she said. “This is one of hundreds of stories that my small hospital sees everyday. So many of my patients are suffering and the expensive medical care could have been avoided if healthcare was treated as a human right in our country.”
Democrats are hoping to leverage concern over the future of Arizona’s healthcare system into votes. Control over Congress is at stake in November. U.S. Rep. Rep. Adelita Grijalva slammed the Trump administration for slashing Medicaid funding to pay for corporate tax breaks at the expense of American healthcare.
“This isn’t just about insurance coverage, it’s about the very infrastructure in our state,” the Tucson Democrat said. “When you gut Medicaid, you also gut our hospitals.”
Grijalva said undoing the damage in a Republican-controlled Congress is a political impossibility, but added that the November midterms might change that. While Republicans have championed the One Big Beautiful Bill and ignored calls from across the aisle to withdraw the Medicaid cuts, Democrats have vocally criticized both the cuts and eligibility requirements and vowed to push to reverse them if voters award them control this year.
“We have to do wholesale reversals and a lot of that will depend on when Democrats will be able to be a majority in the House,” Grijalva said. “Will we also have the Senate? Will we have partners that are willing to work together?”
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Courtesy of Arizona Mirror
