Obamacare Advocates In Arizona Urge Against Repeal Without Replacement

By Will Stone
Published: Wednesday, January 4, 2017 - 5:56pm

Health-care advocates in Arizona are cautioning that a repeal of the Affordable Care Act could leave hundreds of thousands in the state without insurance.

While the federal exchange gets much of the attention, Obamacare touches more than just the 200,000 who bought insurance through website healthcare.gov.

About 425,000 Arizonans also have coverage through the law’s Medicaid expansion. If those federal dollars go away, the state would have to come up with nearly $330 million to keep them covered. Under more dramatic scenarios, the cost could rise to a billion dollars.

Speaking in Phoenix on Wednesday, Democratic Senate Minority Leader Katie Hobbs said the state won’t be able to shoulder that kind of new spending.

“I don’t see anyone in the state coming forward and saying we will cover this,” Hobbs said. “We don’t have the money to do it.”

Hobbs hopes Arizona’s congressional delegation will only support a repeal if there’s a comprehensive replacement.

Gov. Doug Ducey has said he doesn’t want a gap in coverage for those with insurance.

While Sen. John McCain has been adamant about the problems with Obamacare, he expressed concern this week about moving too fast on repeal without a replacement.