Republican Governor Jan Brewer has been seeking federal approval for the policy change for months as she makes deep cuts to the state budget. While Arizona can change many aspects of its Medicaid program on its own, changing who can qualify for coverage has has been a far tougher task, given strict eligibility rules under the joint state-federal health insurance program for the poor.
With federal approval now in place , Arizona will start turning aside childless adults who are below the federal poverty line of about $18,500 a year for a family of three. Arizona has been providing health insurance coverage to those residents for a decade under a ballot measure approved by the voters in 2000, but Brewer has argued that the state can no longer afford such a sweeping Medicaid program. She expects the change to save taxpayers $190 million and shrink health care rolls by 100,000 in the first year.
The change will not strip health insurance coverage from childless adults already receiving it, Capitol Media Services noted. New applicants, however, will be turned aside.
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