On Saturday, the Arizona State Legislature adjourned sine die and Governor Katie Hobbs signed an $18.3 billion budget bill into law with strong bipartisan support. The bill includes tax cuts and major curbs on spending while funding critical health and community services. The budget compromise also includes increases in eligibility...Arizona News
Last week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the awards for the Trump administration's Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP), which is meant to bolster rural health systems in the wake of substantial cuts to the Medicaid program. Arizona is set to receive $167 million, about two-thirds of what it...
Across the country and in Arizona, hospitals both urban and rural are preparing for Medicaid cuts, which are anticipated to significantly compromise the delivery of care for safety net providers.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), signed into law on July 4, is projected to reduce federal spending on the Medicaid program by $900...
Last month, Governor Katie Hobbs intervened to pause the implementation of new Medicaid rules to assess the hours of service for Arizona children with developmental disabilities. Last week, the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) posted new, amended rules through an emergency rulemaking process.
The rule arises out of...Arizona News
As the 2025 Arizona Legislative Session winds down, Governor Katie Hobbs has signed and vetoed a slew of bills, many of which relate to Arizona healthcare.
On Monday and Tuesday, Governor Hobbs vetoed 48 bills sent to her desk by the Republican-controlled legislature. One such bill, proposed by Senator Wendy Rogers (R-Flagstaff) would...Arizona News
The Arizona State Legislature passed a bill that will increase oversight of sober living homes following a major statewide scandal over a Medicaid fraud scheme targeting Native Americans seeking drug and alcohol treatment.
Senate Bill 1655, proposed by Democratic State Senator Theresa Hatathlie, failed to pass the House Health and...Arizona News
The Arizona for Abortion Access campaign for Proposition 139, which would allow abortions up to 24 weeks in Arizona, is going strong in the weeks preceding election day.
The campaign is now spending more than $15 million on a targeted ad blitz this week on television and streaming platforms across the state, according to KJZZ. The...Arizona News
Arizona's healthcare worker shortage is dire, and the state's rural regions are the hardest hit. This week, Governor Katie Hobbs took steps to address the issue.
Every county in Arizona is short on primary care physicians, and rural health centers are increasingly relying on flying in specialty doctors from California and Colorado to...Arizona News
Against all odds, the Arizona State Legislature sent a budget to Governor Katie Hobbs that would reconcile a budget deficit over two years and she signed it.
The budget cut state programs and instructed most state agencies to tighten their belts, including a 3.45% "lump sum" cut to the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) and...Arizona News
The Biden administration is taking steps to reinforce the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act as a Supreme Court case seeks to undermine it. Red states continue to attack the drugs used in pharmaceutical abortion and construct arbitrary barriers to the procedure.
Kansas allows abortion up to 22 weeks of pregnancy thanks to...
Since Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022, Arizona has experienced difficulty parsing the legality and severity of its abortion bans, leaving patients and providers concerned. Recently, Arizona's Supreme Court validated an 1864 ban on abortion that reignited the back-and-forth.
After the high court's decision, Democrats in the...
Arizona garnered national attention last week when the state's Supreme Court determined that 1864 abortion ban that criminalizes the practice and makes no exception other than to save the life of the mother may stand as state law.
Governor Katie Hobbs issued a statement in response invoking the executive order she signed last year...
On Monday, Governor Katie Hobbs announced a new program to cancel $2 billion in medical debt for Arizonans.
The governor announced the program upon signing a contract with nonprofit RIP Medical Debt, which buys debt held by collection agencies, medical providers and hospitals using grant funding. The agreement signs over $30 million...Arizona News
Last year, the Arizona Attorney General's Office in coordination with Arizona's Medicaid program uncovered a massive scandal that victimized thousands of vulnerable addicts through fraudulent sober living homes.
Some critics have noted that the term "sober living home" in the context of reporting on the scandal has been misconstrued...Arizona News
Last week, legislators returned to the Capitol for the start of the 2024 Arizona Legislative Session and Governor Katie Hobbs gave her annual State of the State address.
Lawmakers have a significant challenge before them when it comes to balancing the budget this year, as the state is projected to end the fiscal year this summer in...Arizona News
Criticism of the Arizona State Hospital's (ASH) operational issues and ability to provide adequate care to patients is coming to a head as the Arizona Legislature gears up for its annual session.
Last session, the legislature passed a bill that imposed additional transparency onto the Arizona State Hospital (ASH). This included the...Arizona News
More fraudulent sober living home operators were charged by the state of Arizona this week for patient referral kickback schemes. Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) Cabinet Executive Officer Carmen Heredia is calling for an overhaul of the state Medicaid system after spending the first year of her position focusing on...Arizona News
Arizona is one of several states expected to add a measure putting abortion access on the ballot in next year's election.
Governor Katie Hobbs threw her support behind the initiative this week by adding her signature to the petition for the measure to make it onto the ballot. The Arizona Abortion Access Act, brought by the Arizona for...
A federal judge signed an order from Governor Katie Hobbs that will permanently require the state to cover gender affirming surgery for state employees, university employees and retirees.
In 2019, Russell Toomey, a transgender professor at University of Arizona (UArizona) filed a class action lawsuit in federal court that the state's...
In June, Governor Katie Hobbs signed Executive Order 2023-12, which directed the Department of Administration to remove language exempting gender reassignment surgery from healthcare coverage under state and university policies. Now, Arizona Republicans are challenging the consent decree in court.
Four years ago, University of Arizona...
