As a doctor, I’ve spent nearly three decades delivering life-saving medical care here in Arizona. Lately, I’m witnessing a disturbing shift: My patients are desperately struggling to afford even basic care. More and more, I’m seeing folks postpone important treatments, downgrade to restrictive insurance plans, or drop their coverage entirely.Â
This situation is dire — and it was entirely avoidable.
In 2025, congressional Republicans enacted the regressive One Big Beautiful Bill Act, slashing healthcare funding for families in need by over $1 trillion through 2034. Just one year in, the damage to patient care is already undeniable, and the worst is yet to come.
The expiration of the Affordable Care Act’s enhanced premium tax credits has caused premiums and deductibles to skyrocket this year. Forced to choose between health insurance payments or rent, many Americans are gambling on going uninsured.
In Arizona, ACA marketplace premiums surged 28% to 35% on average in 2026. For 2027, state marketplace insurers have already requested another round of double-digit rate hikes, averaging 25.4%. This trajectory is completely untenable, and it explains why Arizona is now seeing one of the nation’s steepest declines in ACA enrollment.
Our elected leaders need to remember that these are not abstract numbers on a spreadsheet. These are human beings gambling with their lives, hoping they won’t get sick this year because they can no longer afford to be treated. This policy means a patient forgoing the routine Pap smear that could have caught their cervical cancer early. Unfortunately, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act should be measured in lives lost, not dollars saved.
The chaos inflicted by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act extends far beyond insurance markets. Our medical infrastructure is crumbling under the weight of these cuts.Â
Last month, Select Specialty Hospital-Tucson East, announced it will close its doors this September — almost exactly one year after the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s Medicaid reductions took effect. Experts have long warned that these cuts will trigger hospital closures. While rural communities face the highest risk, urban hospitals are clearly vulnerable, too.
The crisis will deepen this coming January when the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s rigid Medicaid work requirements and other coverage restrictions take effect. Make no mistake: These bureaucratic hurdles exist solely to create barriers to care. By 2028, between 123,000 and 246,000 Arizonans are projected to lose their Medicaid expansion coverage entirely due to these administrative traps.
This catastrophe was entirely predictable. I personally rallied against this Republican budget bill and warned lawmakers about the human cost of these drastic cuts.Â
The medical field should be defined by breakthroughs and progress that allows doctors like me to better serve our communities. It is unconscionable that our elected officials have chosen instead to strip away healthcare coverage, forcing a devastating regression in patient care.Â
Arizonans deserve better.
Originally published on azmirror.com, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.
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