Reacting to the election of Donald Trump, Gov. Doug Ducey has called on the President-elect and Congress to hold off on a total repeal of the Affordable Care Act unless, and until, they come up with a replacement that protects Arizonans.
Ducey acknowledged that one of Trump’s key campaign promises was to scrap the healthcare program, but since the state is taking federal money to expand Medicaid, it could endanger coverage for up to 400,000 individuals.
Ducey said the focus must be on replacing not repealing the law.
"The desire for citizens to have access to affordable health care is something that we share across party lines," Ducey said. "The fact that we want to see people with pre-existing conditions or hitting lifetime caps have a solution, that's something we would love to have a bipartisan discussion on. And it's finally something that, eight years later, we're going to."
The Affordable Care Act provides Arizona with financial incentives to expand its own Medicaid programs, but the state has been losing providers and rates have skyrocketed here and elsewhere.