skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, April 25, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SCOTUS skeptical that state abortion bans conflict with federal health care law; Iowa advocates for immigrants push back on Texas-style deportation bill; new hearings, same arguments on both sides for ND pipeline project; clean-air activists to hold "die-in" Friday at LA City Hall.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

"Squad" member Summer Lee wins her primary with a pro-peace platform, Biden signs huge foreign aid bills including support for Ukraine and Israel, and the Arizona House repeals an abortion ban as California moves to welcome Arizona doctors.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The urban-rural death divide is widening for working-age Americans, many home internet connections established for rural students during COVID have been broken, and a new federal rule aims to put the "public" back in public lands.

Arizona May Be Among States Hardest Hit by GOP Health Changes

play audio
Play

Friday, March 10, 2017   

PHOENIX – The House Republican plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act will affect nearly one in three Arizonans.

That includes the 196,000 who buy health insurance on the marketplace, as well as the nearly 2 million people on Medicaid.

Dana Wolfe Naimark, president of the Children's Action Alliance, says changes to Medicaid would affect a broad range of programs, including health care for the elderly, children and people with disabilities.

She says the GOP plan shifts those costs from the federal government to the states.

"Every state will have to make tough decisions about who to cut off, enrollment to freeze, creating waiting lists, but also narrowing coverage,” she points out. “That's dangerous."

For Republicans, however, Arizona is a poster child for what they say is wrong with the Affordable Care Act. Most counties have only one insurer in the plan this year.

Premiums are on average more than double what they were in 2016, but most people don't pay the full price.

The GOP says its plan will encourage insurance companies to reenter the marketplace, creating competition and lowering costs.

But a study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities suggests just the opposite will happen. It predicts Arizonans will see their tax credits to help pay for coverage fall by 55 percent.

Allen Gjersvig, director of Navigator and Enrollment Services with the Arizona Alliance for Community Health Centers, says the ACA protects most consumers from rising costs, but the GOP plan does not.

"Under the ACA, prices go up, tax credits go up,” he points out. “Under the proposed plan, it's that fixed, set, one-size fits all tax plan. It raises the question of, 'Will people just stop buying insurance?'"

It's too early to know how many Arizonans will drop their health insurance if the Republican plan becomes law. A study by Standard and Poor's puts that number at 2 to 4 million nationwide, with another 4 to 6 million being pushed off Medicaid.





get more stories like this via email

more stories
Rep. Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, the House Democratic floor leader, called Missouri politicians "extremist" on social media after they passed the most restrictive abortion ban in the country and defunded Planned Parenthood. (Fitz/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

The Missouri Legislature has approved a law to stop its Medicaid program, known as MO HealthNet, from paying Planned Parenthood for medical services …


Environment

play sound

A round of public testimony wrapped up this week as part of renewed efforts by a company seeking permit approval in North Dakota for an underground pi…

Social Issues

play sound

Air travelers could face fewer obstacles in securing a refund if their flight is canceled or changed under new federal rules announced Wednesday…


The Iowa Movement for Migrant Justice calls Senate File 2340 a "ridiculous stunt," passed in an election year "to mobilize voters using fear and anti-immigrant sentiment." (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Advocates for immigrants are pushing back on a bill signed by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds in the last few days of the legislative session, modeled on a …

Environment

play sound

An environmental group is suing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the Arkansas mudalia snail under the Endangered Species Act. In …

Currently, more than 2.7 million Californians live within 3,200 feet of an operational oil well. (MSPhotographic/Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

Leaders concerned about pollution and climate change are raising awareness about a ballot measure this fall on whether the state should mandate buffer…

play sound

A coalition of climate groups seeking cleaner air at the rail yards and ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will hold a "die-in" rally tomorrow at Los…

Health and Wellness

play sound

By Marianne Dhenin for Yes! Magazine.Broadcast version by Shanteya Hudson for Georgia News Connection reporting for the YES! Media/Public News …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021