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Now, on to today’s edition.
Congressman Juan Ciscomani isn’t a big fan of his government-issued healthcare.
The two-term Tucson Republican and father of six kids complained to KTAR’s Mike Broomhead on Monday that he has had his claims denied and had to pay more for his premiums and co-pays since he was first elected to office.
“When you're a member of Congress, you're automatically in the ACA. You don't have an option. You're put on that. I don't have an option of any other healthcare system except that one,” Ciscomani told Broomhead. “At the end, do I love it? Absolutely not.”
Welcome to the club, Juan.
No insurance plan is perfect — and Ciscomani openly pined for the days when he had private coverage — but Congress made a deliberate decision in 2014 to require all 535 members and their staff to buy insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace if they want their employer to kick in to help pay for it. (But to be clear, he could just buy a private health insurance plan not through the marketplace — he'd just have to pay the outrageous price of that plan with no subsidy from his employer, the federal government.)
The idea was simple: Lawmakers should live under the laws they pass.
In other words, Ciscomani knew exactly what he was signing up for before he ran for office.
That matters, because Ciscomani’s frustration doesn’t stop with his own coverage. It extends to the millions of Americans who also rely on the ACA — except without congressional salaries, employer contributions, or staffers to help navigate claims disputes.
The question of the moment is what happens to the millions of Americans who also don’t have any other option than the ACA — but without any of the cushy perks that come with being in Congress — if Congress doesn't vote to extend the pandemic-era subsidies that are helping to lower the price of plans on the ACA.
Congressman Juan Ciscomani with his family. (Ciscomani for Congress.)
Ciscomani already provided his answer to that question: He voted against a three-year extension of the subsidies that make the Affordable Care Act actually affordable for most people.
Ciscomani argued that a three-year extension of the subsidies would be putting money into a broken system.
“At the end of the day, this is not money that just falls from the sky that the government is sending people,” Ciscomani said. “That's the lazy approach that costs people money and that's not the way we govern.”
Ciscomani appears to want to kick the can down the road for one year, telling Broomhead that Congress needs to make major reforms when it comes to the ACA before he's willing to support Democrats' plans to extend the subsidies.
Ciscomani has a laundry list of complaints about the ACA that range from how the federal government verifies income (they modified the process again last year) to the fact that insurance companies get federal subsidies for people who don’t even use their health insurance. (Also known as healthy people.)
At least some of Ciscomani’s concerns are tied to a recent report from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) illustrating flaws in the federal program. At the request of Republican Congressman Brett Guthrie, the GAO tested whether it could commit fraud within the ACA.
The report, released last month, is red meat for Republicans because the GAO successfully used “covert testing“ to fraudulently enroll 18 people into the ACA.
18 people.
The proof of concept test shows there are holes in the system, but doesn’t tell us how big the problem is.
We’ll quickly remind you that approximately 22.8 million Americans are relying on the ACA marketplace health plans this year.
Without the subsidies currently being debated by the Senate, healthcare premiums could spike and some estimates suggesting 125,000-150,000 more uninsured Arizonans will be unable to afford health insurance if those subsidies are not renewed.
The clock is ticking, Senate Republicans are expected to unveil their ACA extension at the end of the month — right before a Congressional continuing resolution ( a temporary funding measure) — is set to expire.
IN OTHER NEWS
Feeling the squeeze: Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes made her case for trying to block Tucson Electric Power’s 14% rate hike, calling it “blatant corporate greed,” at a public meeting in the YWCA of Southern Arizona on Tuesday, the Arizona Daily Star’s Charles Borla reports. Among the dozens of people in attendance was the owner of a ballet studio in South Tucson who said her clients won’t be able to afford her services if they have to spend more money on electricity. Tucsonans will get the chance to speak at Arizona Corporation Commission meetings scheduled for March and April. Mayes, who previously served on the ACC, said she’ll make her case directly to the commissioners in March, per KVOA’s Eric Fink.
Sign of the times: The fate of four elementary schools in the Tucson area was sealed on Tuesday when the Amphitheater Public Schools Governing Board voted unanimously to close Holaway, Nash, Donaldson and Copper Creek, the Arizona Luminaria’s Shannon Conner reports. The decision was met with cries from the audience like “Boo! Shame on you!,” but district officials said the low birthrate in Arizona, along with more students using vouchers to leave public schools, forced their hand.
Impressive numbers: The Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona is about to celebrate 50 years of providing meals to those in need, KGUN’s Pat Parris reports. Each year, the food bank provides about 35 million meals to 150,000 people in five counties. The food bank also is partnering with Amazon for the first time to help deliver fresh, perishable food faster.
Federal plan, local backing: Officials in Tucson, Phoenix and Flagstaff are throwing their support behind a plan from Democratic U.S. Sen. Ruben Gallego that would revamp local zoning codes and create more tax credits for first-time homebuyers, the Arizona Mirror’s Jerod MacDonald-Evoy reports.
“Housing affordability is the top issue for Tucson families, and we need partners in Washington who understand what cities are facing,” Mayor Regina Romero told the Mirror. “This proposal helps cities like Tucson move faster to create stable and affordable homes for the people who make our communities work.”
Reporters also make our communities work. But we can’t do it without your support.
Lawsuit incoming: The No Desert Data Center Coalition is suing Pima County for violating the state’s open meeting laws, the group announced in a news release. The gist of the lawsuit is that the county planning and zoning commission approved a major rezoning for Project Blue without giving the public meaningful notice. The agenda for the April 2025 meeting of the commission “failed to disclose the true purpose” of the rezoning request, the group argues.
“You don’t sneak a massive desert data center development past the public unless you know it wouldn’t survive open debate,” Antonia Langowski, legal fellow at the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest, said in the news release. “This was a backroom deal, plain and simple.”
TODAY’S LAUGH
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Pima County Supervisor Matt Heinz was pretty stoked to find an AI-generated art piece in his inbox this week “celebrating” the board’s decision to make Supervisor Jennifer Allen the new chair — and Heinz the vice chair.
“I know this was meant as a critique, but I’m kind of into it. Looking forward to serving alongside you, Comrade — uh, I mean Chair Allen,” Heinz wrote.