Arizona court upholds state's Medicaid expansion law

An Arizona court this week upheld a 2013 state law expanding Medicaid coverage to low-income residents under the Affordable Care Act. Some members of the state legislature claimed that the law’s assessment on hospitals to help pay for the expansion was a tax and therefore unconstitutional because the legislation failed to pass by a two-thirds supermajority. Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association President and CEO Greg Vigdor said the court’s decision, which is likely to be appealed, “affirmed what we have always argued – [then] Governor Brewer and a bipartisan coalition of Arizona legislators acted lawfully and in accordance with the Arizona Constitution when they approved legislation in 2013 that re-opened our state’s Medicaid rolls. They did the right thing the right way and for the right reasons – and more than 350,000 Arizonans have received access to basic health care as a result.”