Whoever wins the Arizona governor’s race this November will lead a state amid a healthcare crisis.
A new report from Defend America Action, obtained exclusively by the Copper Courier, found that Arizonans are losing coverage at “breakneck speed”—at a time when the rising cost of living is already straining their pockets.
Most of the impacts stem from President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which all Arizona Republicans in Congress—including US Rep. Andy Biggs, running to be the state’s next governor—voted for. The bill cut Medicaid and SNAP food assistance by more than $1 trillion over the next decade, including an up to $43 billion cut to Arizona’s Medicaid allotment, according to the report.
“My colleagues in the House Freedom Caucus and I worked diligently with President Trump and House and Senate Leadership to push for significant spending reductions and reforms to Medicaid and SNAP benefits,” Biggs said in a July 2025 press release. “While there is always room to improve, the historic tax cuts and reforms in this bill move us in the right direction and will power our economy.”
The cuts, along with the new Medicaid work requirements and increased eligibility renewals, risk kicking off hundreds of thousands of Arizonans from the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS), the state’s Medicaid program.
The SNAP cuts have already had a massive impact, with more than 180,000 children kicked off SNAP food assistance after the state rushed to implement the new rules included in the One Big Beautiful Bill.
Positioned as “reducing waste and fraud,” advocates argue the new Medicaid and SNAP requirements would instead push off individuals in need of assistance, making it harder for working class people to navigate the bureaucratic processes.
“This bill ‘saves money’ by adding red tape that forces people off health care and SNAP,” said Jennifer J. Burns, the Director of Government Relations and Health Policy at Children’s Action Alliance in 2025. “But the health care and food needs of Arizonans won’t go away. Instead, all Arizonans will suffer.”
What will the bill mean for Arizona hospitals?
Since the bill passed, 19 hospitals, wards, and clinics have shuttered, cut services, or are at heightened risk of closure across Arizona, the report said, pointing to data from Protect Our Care, a left-leaning advocacy group.
Select Specialty Hospital—Tucson East, which provided medical needs for things like brain injuries and cardiac conditions, closed in September, and the Phoenix Children’s Hospital is at risk of closure, too, according to Protect Our Care.
In rural communities, the loss of one clinic or hospital can be significant, risking the loss of what could be a community’s only source of health care.
“What it’s going to do to rural health care in Arizona is destroying it,” said Neal Jensen, CEO of Cobre Valley Regional Medical Center in Globe.
It will only get worse. The report points to estimates from the National Rural Health Association that say rural hospitals stand to lose $1.2 billion over the next decade. The funding cuts come at a time when rural hospitals are already struggling because Medicaid underpays providers, and after the federal government shortchanged Arizona’s “Rural Health Fund” allotment, with the state receiving the 6th lowest payment in the nation.
Affordable Care Act subsidy cuts also drive coverage loss
The report also points to the loss of Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies as a major driver of coverage loss after congressional Republicans refused to extend subsidies that made ACA plans more affordable for hundreds of thousands of Arizonans.
Biggs, a longtime critic of the ACA, voted against extending the subsidies in January. The consequences were felt quickly. Roughly 300,000 Arizonans who rely on the ACA marketplace faced an estimated average premium increase of nearly 140% to keep their 2026 coverage, according to the Center for American Progress, a left leaning thinktank.
The report points to one Arizona couple, who earn $80,000 a year and saw their monthly premium more than triple from $567 to $2,026. More than 121,000 Arizonans dropped their health insurance plans altogether in 2026 compared to the previous year, according to data from KFF and the Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions.
Voting to cut Arizonans’ healthcare is consistent with where Biggs has stood for years. In 2011, as a state senator, Biggs attempted to gut the state’s Medicaid program with SB1519. The legislation would have axed the state program and partially replaced it with “safety net” coverage for the “most needy” that would have been administered by the Department of Health Services, according to reporting from the Arizona Mirror.
In 2025, as a congressman, Biggs introduced legislation to repeal the ACA, but it never advanced.
“The reality is that Obamacare is only affordable when it is heavily subsidized. The complete failure of the “Affordable” Care Act is why health insurance premiums have skyrocketed,” Biggs said in a post on X last year. “That’s why I introduced a bill to completely—and responsibly—repeal Obamacare.”
How will voters react?
Healthcare is at the top of many voters’ minds as the country inches closer to the midterm elections, according to KFF. Approximately 64% of adults are worried about being able to afford healthcare costs, the same share worried about paying for gas and transportation.
Even after voting for the steep cuts to Medicaid, Biggs suggested further cuts in Arizona. In a Oct. 2025 podcast appearance on The Afternoon Addiction with Garret Lewis, Biggs suggested cracking down further on Medicaid and SNAP, suggesting the state might have $6 billion in “fraud and abuse.”
“We’ve got some cleanup to do here,” Biggs said.
Doctors have pointed to Biggs’ record on healthcare and abortion to make the case for voters to reject him this November. His Democratic opponent, Gov. Katie Hobbs, has pointed to his record to argue he is out of touch with Arizona voters.
“Eight of our rural hospitals are at risk of closing because of the cuts in that Washington budget, and we’ve already lost one in southern Arizona,” Hobbs said in July. “But that still wasn’t extreme enough for Biggs. He said he wanted ‘the more cuts approach.’”
The two will face off in the Nov. 3 election. The full report can be found here.
