Dear Arizona AAPS members and friends,
Please read this important message from our friends at Americans for Prosperity about what you can do today to help STOP the planned Medicaid expansion in our state.
~AAPS
ACTION ALERT
To all Arizona Taxpayers and Health Care Consumers:
Gov. Jan Brewer and powerful lobbyists are pushing Arizona to impose statewide taxes, including a hospital bed tax, to fund an expansion of Medicaid (AHCCCS) under ObamaCare. It is vitally important for Arizona to stop the proposed Medicaid expansion, because the human and fiscal costs of that expansion would be enormous.
The most important issue in the Medicaid expansion is the human cost. If Arizona were to expand Medicaid, it would railroad 250,000 Arizonans into a low-quality, government-managed health insurance system. Medicaid patients not only have worse medical outcomes than patients other low-income people without insurance — even when they had the same medical conditions.
But here is another crucial issue: The proponents of the expansion are trying to do an end-run around Prop 108, the most important taxpayer protection in the Arizona Constitution. Under Prop 108, it is supposed to take a two-thirds majority of the Legislature to raise taxes. But Medicaid expansion proponents want to allow unelected bureaucrats at AHCCCS to raise state taxes (mainly hospital bed taxes) by $369 million over the next three years — without a two-thirds vote of the Legislature! If the Legislature delegates to bureaucrats the authority to impose gigantic taxes on hospital patients, Prop 108 will be a dead letter and will no longer protect Arizona taxpayers.
Gov. Brewer told Arizonans to “do the math” on the Medicaid expansion. With all due respect, she should do the same. According to Brewer’s projections,the Arizona Medicaid expansion would cause the federal government to spend $3.6 billion over the next three years alone. The people who will pay those taxes include most of the people of Arizona and — thanks to the federal debt — our children and grandchildren.
TAKE ACTION!
Please send a quick email note to Gov. Brewer, asking to reconsider her support for the ObamaCare Medicaid expansion. She changed her mind on the ObamaCare insurance exchange, so we know that she can do the right thing — but we must confront her with the evidence against the Medicaid expansion.
REGISTER FOR THE DEBATE!
Please register now for AFP-Arizona’s debate on the ObamaCare Medicaid expansion, which will take place from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm on Thursday, February 21 at the Goldwater Institute. At the event, Michael Cannon of the Cato Institute, Goldwater Institute health care policy analyst Christina Corieri, and Phoenix surgeon Jeff Singer will take on any three pro-expansion advocates who want to debate these issues publicly. We have extended the invitation to debate to Brewer adviser Chuck Coughlin, AHCCCS director Tom Betlach and members of the hospital and insurance lobbies. All concerned citizens who wish to attend the debate should RSVP to Shane Wikfors at swikfors@afphq.org
LEARN MORE!
For more about the problems with the proposed Medicaid expansion, read our line-by-line refutation of Gov. Brewer’s pro-expansion arguments in her January 14 speech.
DONATE!
Please help AFP-Arizona fight the battle for economic freedom in Arizona by going to www.aztaxpayers.org or clicking on the Donate button to the right. A contribution of $10, $25, $50, or $100 would be a huge boost to our efforts, and would enable us to mobilize more activists and put more pressure on elected officials. Every little bit counts, and we can’t do what we do without great people like you standing with us. Thank you for your support, financial and otherwise! Let’s make 2013 a great year for free enterprise in Arizona!
For Liberty, Tom
Tom Jenney
Arizona Director
Americans for Prosperity