Arizona Supreme Court upholds state's Medicaid expansion law

The Arizona Supreme Court last week upheld a 2013 state law expanding Medicaid coverage to low-income residents under the Affordable Care Act. Some members of the state legislature claimed that the law’s assessment on hospitals to help pay for the expansion was a tax and therefore unconstitutional because the legislation failed to pass by a two-thirds supermajority; however, the state Supreme Court disagreed and ruled it was an assessment and only required a simple majority vote. “This is a great day for Arizona, and one we have awaited through a four-year legal fight,” said Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association President and CEO Greg Vigdor. “At long last, the Arizona Supreme Court has affirmed the constitutionality of 2013 legislation that extended life-saving Medicaid coverage to more than 400,000 Arizonans in need.”