If you’re from Arizona, you can’t flip on the local news without hearing about the budget crisis and how our representatives have been spending long nights trying to sort things out. Bickering is most likely.
Well, budget cuts in Arizona have led to even more heartache for over 10,000 families who are about to lose their health insurance. Due to the state budget cuts, KidsCare Parents, a program that helps families stayed insured at low prices, will receive no more funding from its provider, the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCC). With the state cutting back on everything, the AHCCC cannot afford to provide for KidsCare with the usual $6 million annual cost.
KidsCare Parents was a wonderful program that provided affordable coverage to those families who had fallen between the cracks. To qualify for KidsCare Parents, a family of four had to make less than $44,000 a year. Can you imagine supporting a family of four on less than $44,000 a year! And now, thanks to Arizona state budget cuts, they will be losing their health coverage. 
According to the story in the Arizona Republic, families are scrambling to get surgeries and doctor visits taken care of before the end of September, when their coverage will run out. These families have been advised to seek medical care at local clinics, which offer fees on a sliding-scale. However, budget cuts have also affected the clinics.
Families are also considering taking pay-cuts and leaving jobs that earn them too much to qualify for state coverage so that they can apply for AHCCC coverage. It’s an amazing world we live in when families are forced to consider losing pay, taking pay cuts, just to get the health insurance that will keep them alive.
The Arizona Republic article goes on to chronicle a young family with a mother struggling with cancer and a young son struggling with a heart condition. The young mother had to deal with the idea of taking that pay cut to qualify for AHCCC health insurance to keep her son and herself alive.
It’s in these situations that program like the No Insurance Club can really make a difference. Check out more at http://www.noinsuranceclub.com.
