Some Arizona physicians are joining the chorus condemning the U.S. Senate’s version of health-care reform.
About a dozen doctors joined Democratic state Rep. Randall Friese at the Capitol in Phoenix on Wednesday to speak out against the bill, now shelved in D.C. until after the July 4 recess.
Friese, who is also an emergency room doctor in Tucson, says the legislation should be allowed to die in Congress.
“The vote has been postponed, the issue will be coming back. We need to keep pressing and making sure that our policy makers at the federal level understand that we in Arizona need access to quality health care," Friese said.
More than 400,000 Arizonans rely on the state’s expanded Medicaid program for coverage, a program the Senate bill proposes to phase out.
The Governor’s Office estimates if the new AHCA is enacted it could cost the state as much as $7 billion in federal funds.
