Arizona Finally Joins Rest of U.S. with Children's Insurance Plan
In spite of the opposition and skepticism, Arizona finally signed into law a bill that officially restores the federal health insurance program intended primarily for children who belong to families with lower incomes compared to the nation's average. The new law is a landmark decision by Governor Doug Ducey since the state is the only one left in the U.S. that hasn't embraced the program, at least until last Friday when it was signed.
Arizona's government declined to approve and sign into law the federal Children's Health Insurance Program back in 2010, reasoning out that the state was struggling with its budget, per report from Reuters.
According to The Associated Press, the newly-approved program will be called "KidsCare," which basically is similar to the federal version. The report said that it is designed to be able to provide insurance to around 30,000 children with parents who earn less than 200 percent of the poverty line. It will cover working families which aren't qualified for Medicaid health care coverage, but are likewise not able to afford obtaining private health insurance.
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Prior to the signing, Gov. Ducey did not indicate if he was fully committed to signing the proposal into law, which is why it was a bit surprising when he actually did without question. It may have been because of the lobbying from his party mates. But there too was strong opposition for the law, with critics and skeptics saying that the program will just give low-income families reason to be dependent on it. Talking to AP, Sen. Sylvia Allen, R-Snowflake, said that the program will eventually backfire. "We will see the negative consequences happen, because we cannot live our lives on borrowed dollars, we will have to face that sooner or later," she said.
For the proponents of the law, they justify its approval by saying that it is an effective way to close the gap in cheap health insurance options, while making sure that kids are healthy as they grow up.
