Should Jan Brewer remove 300,000 people from the Arizona State medicaid system, even though it was voter approved?

Ariz. Gov. Jan Brewer signed an emergency bill Friday allowing the cash-short state to seek a federal waiver to temporarily remove nearly 300,000 people from its Medicaid rolls in the first such request by a state.

If granted by the administration of President Barack Obama, the waiver would let the state scale back coverage to near that of most other states and save $541.5 million, making it the single biggest element in Brewer's plan to eliminate a projected $1.1 billion shortfall in the next state budget.

Brewer said Medicaid's explosive growth is unsustainable and threatens to consume the core functions of state government.

The Arizona House and Senate approved the authorization requested by Brewer on Thursday amid questions about whether the waiver request would be approved by the Obama administration, and if the legislation would survive an anticipated court challenge. ( this was a voter approved addition for medicaid recipients)

joshua barkley