State Supreme Court hears arguments on legality of Medicaid expansion
The fate of health care for 400,000 Arizonans could depend on what seven justices of the state Supreme Court believe voters said they wanted 25 years ago.
There is no question but that Proposition 108, approved in 1992, requires a two-thirds vote of both the House and Senate for any new or increased tax. The constitutional amendment also applies to the authorization of any new administratively set fee.
What is also clear is that the Legislature voted in 2013 to allow the director of the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, the states Medicaid program, to impose an assessment on hospitals to pay for the states share of a federal program to provide health care to more people. But that measure passed with only a simple majority.
The attorney for Republican lawmakers who opposed the assessment and had enough votes to block it if it needed a two-thirds vote told the justices October 26 that means the measure was illegally enacted.
Read more: http://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2017/10/26/state-supreme-court-hears-arguments-on-legality-of-medicaid-expansion/