The Oregon Ducks vs. Auburn Tigers BCS National Championship is finally over and the Tigers managed to squeeze out a win. I imagine they desecrated Glendale in the same manner they did to our very own Tuscaloosa following the Iron Bowl. Unfortunately, that is not the only thing defiling the state of Arizona.
Many sick Arizonians have stepped forward after Oct. 1 budget cuts ended state-financed organ transplants that would be provided to underprivileged citizens. In light of this uncompassionate legislation the Arizona government will be saving a whopping $5.3 million this year; however, they will be denied $20 million in federal aid because of this law.
And even through the cries for budget cuts, it does not take a mathematician to figure out that there has got to be a better way to cut costs in the Arizona budget. But all anyone can seem to get out of Governor Jan Brewer lately is a statement released to the Associated Press in which she said, “The state only has so much money, and we can only provide so many optional kinds of care.”
The news of a second death because of this law in Arizona was reported just last week. It seems Arizona’s Republican legislature has given its citizens a backhand they were not expecting, especially after the Republican cry against “death panels” during the debate over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act tied to the Obama agenda. Republicans in Arizona definitely seemed to have had a value shift when they allowed what The New York Times called, “death sentence[s] for some patients.” Their actions have left the rest of us with a bit of political vertigo.
This new law has stripped benefits from about 1.3 million adults, which according to The Arizona Republic includes some liver, bone marrow, lung, heart and pancreas transplants, as well as insulin pumps, annual physicals and emergency dental care.
Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema, D-Phoenix, said of the issue, “It’s very clear what happens to people when they don’t get transplants. They die.” The Arizona Republic reported that Sen. Sinema plans on attempting to introduce a bill that would reinstate the cut healthcare benefits by eliminating a tax credit for businesses that report their sales taxes, saving Arizona $18 million.
Nina Roosevelt Gibson, granddaughter of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, told the ABC World News, “I’m outraged when we have 90-something people who were promised a transplant and were told as of Oct. 1 that you can’t have it because the state wants to save money. They were promised transplants and have not been given the time to raise the money that’s necessary. People are going to lose their lives because they don’t have the money.”
Gibson said her grandparents “would be horrified that our country has gotten to the point that people can’t get health care in one of the wealthier countries in the free world. Something is wrong with this picture.” Gibson has been counseling patients at Tucson’s University Medical Center through the transplant process.
Slate reported that in the world of organ transplants, wealth can play as an advantage, like in every other avenue of life. Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, used his affluence to his advantage when he needed a transplant in 2009. When Jobs needed a transplant, instead of getting on the transplant list in his home state of California, he moved his residency to Tennessee, because of their shorter transplant list.
Hopefully billionaires like Steve Jobs will step up and help these Arizonians left to die, at least until the legislation can be reversed. But for now this law, in conjunction with Arizona’s horrendous immigration law, adds to the incompetence of Jan Brewer and sheds even more negative light onto a state that’s drowning in its own debt.
One good thing that can be said of this law is that before October we thought Arizona was just picking on Hispanics; now, the state is hating on everybody.
Michael Patrick is a junior majoring in political science. His column runs biweekly on Thursday.
