Arizona is one of 29 states that have expanded their Medicaid programs through the Affordable Care Act.
Arizonaβs Medicaid program is called the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS). The government program gives health coverage to low income people.
Originally, Medicaid expansion was required as part of the Affordable Care Act. But the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it should be voluntary and up to individual states.
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer opted to expand Medicaid in Arizona by raising the income ceiling to 133 percent of the federal poverty level, which works out to an annual income of $31,721 for a family of four. Brewer restored childless adults as eligible for coverage at the same time.
The number of people enrolled in AHCCCS (Medicaid) in Arizona has jumped by 22 percent since last March. As of March 15, AHCCCS had 1.6 million enrollees, which works out to one in every four Arizonans.
Pima Countyβs AHCCCS enrollment is up by 24 percent over last March, and currently stands at 254,395 people.
The Quest Diagnostics study did not include Arizona-specific data on new cases of diabetes.
The number of adults in Arizona with Type 2 diabetes more than doubled between 2001 and 2011. Close to 600,000 adults have diabetes in Arizona, according to 2011 data from the Arizona Department of Health Services.
In 2003, 6 percent of Arizonans reported that they had diabetes; in 2011, it had jumped to 9 percent.
