Court Allows Arizona Lawmakers To Continue Legal Challenge to Medicaid Expansion

The Arizona Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that state lawmakers can challenge the state's Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act. In 2013, the state Legislature approved a proposal to expand Medicaid to about 300,000 state residents. The plan included a hospital assessment to help offset the cost of expansion. The Goldwater Institute later filed a lawsuit on behalf of 36 Republican state lawmakers and several state residents, arguing that the hospital assessment amounted to a tax. The state's Supreme Court decision clears the path for state lawmakers to proceed with the suit and returns the challenge to trial court, which will decide whether the hospital assessment was passed incorrectly.

• "Arizona Lawmakers Cleared To Challenge Medicaid Expansion" (Evans, Modern Healthcare, 12/31/14).
• "Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer Dealt Legal Blow Over Medicaid Expansion Plan" (Baxter, Los Angeles Times, 12/31/14).