Backers are fighting for children health insurance in Arizona, after Senate leader denied to restore a plan that is designed provide health insurance to the poor children in the state. After the Senate leader’s refusal, Arizona became the only state in the country, which is not involved in the program.
Advocates who were against the decision, rallied at the Capitol. The KidsCare program was frozen in Arizona in 2010, which covered over 63,000 children once. But at present, fewer than 1,000 children have the insurance plan.
Senate President Andy Biggs refused to pass the proposal, as he is against the Affordable Care Act. Biggs said that, “What we’re talking about is a population that Obamacare is already supposed to cover. And when people say it is free, it really isn’t free, is it, because it’s a taxpayer-funded program. So when we start talking about taxpayer-funded program, the question is it state taxes or is it federal taxes, but they’re all coming from our taxpayers any way you look at it.”
“What you do is you create a constituency of 30,000 to 50,000, could be as many as 50,000 people,” Biggs said.
“And now you pull the trigger and take them off? The answer is that’s not going to happen. Nobody will pull that trigger, ” he added.
An Arizona House Republican sponsored the bill and said that the parents of eligible children are poor, earning only $11 or $12 an hour. Kingman Republican, Regina Cobb said that, “Those children, this is what we’re here for, is to help the working poor.”
“These are families, of a mom and a dad where the dad’s the only worker and doesn’t make but $9 or $10 an hour and can’t afford health insurance. Or this is a mom, a single mom, with a child or two, who is making a decision on whether or not to have heat, whether or not to pay rent, or whether to have health insurance,” Cobb added.
The Children whose families come under 138 and 200 percent of the federal poverty line are eligible to gain insurance under the program.
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