NEW: Ciscomani, Schweikert Must Oppose Cuts to Arizona Health Services
TUCSON — The Trump administration – in its endless attempt to free up funding to pay for tax cuts for billionaires and corporations – is canceling support for state health agencies around the country, leading to massive disruptions for health departments trying to care for their state's residents.
In Arizona, at least $46 million in support to the state's Medicaid program are on the chopping block. This comes just weeks after Congressmen Juan Ciscomani and David Schweikert voted for a budget resolution that will require $800 billion in cuts to Medicaid.
According to the New York Times:
“The Department of Health and Human Services has abruptly canceled more than $12 billion in federal grants to states that were being used for tracking infectious diseases, mental health services, addiction treatment and other urgent health issues.
The cuts are likely to further hamstring state health departments, which are already underfunded and struggling with competing demands from chronic diseases, resurgent infections like syphilis and emerging threats like bird flu.
The abruptness of the decision left “no opportunities to transition people into other means, no opportunities even for a state government to say, ‘In our next budget cycle, we’re going to add X number of positions,’” said one official with close knowledge of the impact, who asked not to be named because they feared retaliation from the Trump administration.
‘There’s millions of dollars that have been spent that essentially, the projects will never be able to be finished,’ the official said. ‘This is just like throwing money out the window; it’s a total waste.’”
“Arizonans' health should be the top priority for Congressmen Schwiekert and Ciscomani – not paying for tax breaks for billionaires,” said Andrea Moreno, executive director of Honest Arizona. “Schweikert and Ciscomani should urge President Trump to stop these cuts that are bound to impact Arizonans' access to health care.”
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