Phoenix, AZ – Today, Governor Katie Hobbs announced responsible, common sense steps to protect critical health care for Arizonans with disabilities while ensuring responsible use of taxpayer dollars. The administrative actions were developed over the past months in direct collaboration with service providers, health plans and parent advocates, and are announced as Republican lawmakers have fought for draconian, indiscriminate 50% cuts that would see Arizonans with developmental disabilities denied services, put on lengthy waitlists, and left without critical care.
“It is outrageous that the legislative majority continues to hold Arizonans with autism, cerebral palsy, and Down syndrome hostage to their political stunts,” said Governor Katie Hobbs. “Their antics are both inhumane and fiscally irresponsible, and their blatant disregard for some of the most vulnerable Arizonans is abhorrent. While I take action to save taxpayer dollars and protect critical healthcare for Arizonans with disabilities, they continue to grandstand, play political games, and push up to 50% cuts to lifesaving services. Meanwhile, they refuse to even consider common sense accountability and transparency measures for the ESA entitlement program and its out of control spending.
“Now that I have implemented cost-control measures, they need to pass a clean supplemental bill and give Arizonans with disabilities and their caregivers the certainty that they deserve. If they refuse to pass this routine and necessary supplemental, they need to stop the political games and show Arizonans their budget plan.”
Since last year, the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) has convened parent advocates, DD service providers, health plans, and the Department of Economic Security (DES) to consider timely and necessary improvements to the recently-implemented Parents as Paid Caregiver (PPCG) option, including:- 40-hour cap: Implementing a 40 hour weekly cap per child from parents participating in the PPCG program. This will begin on July 1, 2025.
- Strengthened assessment: Ensure that taxpayer-funded caregiving meets a consistent standard of “extraordinary care”. This will begin on October 1, 2025.
- Accountability in billing: New billing tags through Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) will be available when a parent is providing a service as opposed to another paid caregiver. This will improve data availability on utilization and trends for forecasting. This will begin on July 1, 2025.
Despite Republicans lying to their constituents about supplemental funding bills, they are a routine and ordinary part of budgeting. Under Governor Ducey, the below supplementals were included in prior year budgets:
FY16: $26,000,000
FY17: $117,319,400
FY18: $35,565,700
FY19: $16,427,100
FY20: $48,950,900
FY21: $67,381,900
FY22: $463,090,100
FY23: $691,198,000
Additionally, a $274.8 million supplemental for ESA entitlements was approved in the FY24 budget. In the upcoming Fiscal Year, Republican lawmakers will need to pass a $48.4 million supplemental for the ESA entitlement program. Despite their objections to funding services for Arizonans with disabilities, Republican lawmakers have indicated they will pass the ESA supplemental without including any common sense guardrails for the entitlement program.
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