Support Life-saving Organ Transplant Funding - AZ SB 1001
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We, the undersigned, support Arizona Senate Bill 1001 which reinstates funding for life-extending and life-saving transplants for the poor and needy cut from the state's Medicaid budget known as Arizona Health Care Cost Containment (AHCCCS) by Governor Jan Brewer.
We are aware that a 2007 memo from AHCCCS itself warned that without the transplants, “The number of hospitalizations and other expensive very interventions will increase, along with the potential fatality rate.” We are also aware that the savings to the state for eliminating transplant funding for patients on AHCCCS will only save Arizona $1.4 million, just one-tenth of one percent of its $825 million budget deficit, and that such funding cuts are a death sentence for many poor and needy Arizonans currently awaiting transplants.
We believe that saving or extending a human life should take priority over any and all other budget and spending considerations. We further believe that the following words from the Declaration of Independence represents a moral standard for which the United States, and its individual states should strive, and as a statement of principles through which the United states Constitution should be interpreted:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Without life, there can be no liberty or happiness.
Three Arizonans who were on the state's transplant list have already died since these budget cuts took effect in late 2010. Their lives may have been saved had their names remained on the transplant list and had the funding needed for their life-saving transplants been made available through AHCCCS.
We are outraged that $2 million in funding to study algae, $1.7 million for roof repairs to Veteran's Stadium, have shamefully taken priority over saving lives out of Governor Brewer's budget. We do not believe that the lives of the poor and needy hold less value than those citizens who have private insurance or the means to pay for life-saving procedures.
We urge all Arizonans to support AZ Senate Bill 1001 and to sign this petition. We urge all people of conscience to take a strong stand against any government effort to ration healthcare with budget cuts for life-saving procedures through emails, calls and letters to Governor Jan Brewer's office, Arizona state legislators and the media.
Sponsor
Arizonans United to Restore Life-saving Organ Transplants for the State's Poor and Needy
-and-
Hepatitis C Campaign for America
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