Tucson Hospital Closes One Year After Andy Biggs’ Healthcare Cuts

Andy Biggs voted to gut healthcare, and Tucson is paying the price. The Tucson Sentinel reported that Select Specialty Hospital's Tucson East campus will close permanently in September, eliminating nearly 100 jobs and depriving the region of specialty care for brain injuries, cardiac conditions, and infectious diseases. Patients will now have to travel even further to get care.

This closure comes almost exactly one year after Biggs voted for and championed the largest healthcare cut in Arizona history. That same budget has already closed 8 healthcare clinics statewide, put 8 more rural hospitals at risk of closure, and threatened coverage for 365,000 Arizonans. 

Hospitals in Select Specialty's own district are projected to lose nearly $110 million over the next decade because of the healthcare cuts Biggs backed, and Arizona has seen the third-highest decline in ACA enrollment in the country, a 29.5 percent drop tied to the partisan bill Biggs supported.

Despite the damage his Washington budget is already causing across Arizona, Biggs has called it a “good thing” and has even pushed for “the more cut approach.”

Copper State Victory spokesperson Nicholas Simões Machado said:

“One year after Andy Biggs voted for the largest healthcare cut in state history, Arizona families are paying the price. His healthcare cuts are raising premiums, forcing hospitals to close, costing Tucson nearly 100 jobs, and making patients either travel farther to see a doctor or not get the care they need Andy Biggs needs to explain to Arizonans why he is continuing to defend these disastrous healthcare cuts he voted for that are making life worse for all of us.”

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