Medicaid Program – Arizona

In Arizona, swings in Medicaid access show program’s impact, By Noam N. Levey, November 30 2014, Los Angeles Times: “Bad timing turned Karen Slone’s medical problem into a crisis. Slone, 53, a former administrative assistant with diabetes, followed doctors’ advice for years, getting regular checkups. Then, last year, she lost her job and her insurance, and stopped going to the doctor. When she spotted a sore on her foot, a common complication of diabetes, Slone tried Neosporin and Band-Aids. By the time she went to an emergency room weeks later, she had a raging infection. Surgeons had to remove bones in two toes. ‘It was awful,’ Slone recalled. ‘If I’d have been covered, I would have gone to the doctor sooner.’ For low-income adults like Slone, Arizona was once a trailblazer in healthcare, providing broad access to Medicaid, the government health plan for the poor…”