Issue Position: Health Care
Issue Position
The ultimate quality of life factorNo other condition impacts an individual's or a family's quality of life more than their health and physical wellbeing. For working adults, health challenges make it hard to be on the job every day and to be productive. For children, health challenges affect their growth and development. For students, health challenges have an impact on their attendance and readiness to learn.
Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS)
AHCCCS is Arizona's Medicaid agency that offers health care programs to Arizona residents, who must meet certain income and other requirements to obtain services.
Due to the recent economic crisis, loss of jobs, illness, and seniors living on fixed incomes, thousands of our Arizona citizens qualify for AHCCCS services. As a developed nation that values democratic values and human rights, it is our moral obligation to provide health coverage to all that need it, especially the most vulnerable among us. Raising the eligibility requirement to receive vital medical attention, as well as eliminating many specialized services such as dentistry and podiatry, is not what Arizona citizens need, especially in these difficult times of economic recession. We need to adhere to the current AHCCCS mission statement: "Reaching across Arizona to provide comprehensive, quality health care to those in need."
KidsCare - Arizona's Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
Affordable health care insurance for working families was established in 1997, providing working families the ability to purchase affordable health care for their children up to the age of eighteen.
The situation with uninsured children is major problem because hundreds of thousand of Arizona children do not receive adequate preventative care due to the extremely high cost. Even working families are not able to obtain or afford necessary health treatment for their children. The cost for treating medical needs in the ER has greatly increased.
KidsCare enrollment caps that were implemented in January of this year need to be lifted so that the approximately 100 children that are currently are being turned away each day can receive the health care for which they are so in need. This program enables us to bring in three dollars in federal funds for every dollar the state spends. This is a proven and financially sound investment of state dollars in order for our children to have their preventative health care and their immediate medical needs met
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