Representatives of the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, Arizona’s version of Medicaid, stopped in Camp Verde on March 5 as part of a tour around the state to talk to people about proposed changes to the health care plan and to listen to community input.
More than 1.2 million people have been covered under the program since the 1990s, said Monica Coury, AHCCCS spokeswoman. The program is aimed at helping people with limited financial resources, not particular groups like the elderly or disabled. In July 2011, the state froze enrollment in the program for childless adults. Enrollment has dropped from around 220,000 to 82,000 due to attrition, Coury said.
Included in the numbers of those no longer covered are 18,000 cancer patients, Coury said. Childless adults that remain in the program can only be covered through 2013 unless something is done.
For the full story, see the Wednesday, March 13, edition of The Camp Verde Journal or the Cottonwood Journal Extra.
