AZ GOVERNOR SEEKS MEETING WITH FED HEALTH SECRETARY

posted by Michael Chihak

Gov. Jan Brewer wrote to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Thursday asking for a meeting to discuss her requested waiver for Arizona regarding its Medicaid standards.

It's the second letter Brewer has sent to Sebelius in a week, the first one being the actual request for the waiver.

This time, the governor said she was encouraged that Sebelius has told the nation's governors that she wants to work with them to create a sustainable Medicaid system. At the same time, Brewer expressed worry that Sebelius might be thinking that she doesn't have the authority to waive a state's Medicaid benefits requirements.

" ... you appear uncertain whether you have authority to waive maintenance of effort requirements under the law," Brewer wrote in Thursday's letter. "I believe strongly that you do."

Brewer has asked the federal government to waive Arizona's voter-imposed benefit for health care for the poor, a move that would save the state $541.5 million and be the biggest step toward a balanced budget for 2011-12.

Such a move, though, would knock 280,000 poor Arizonans off of state-supported health care and would cause the state to lose $1 billion in federal matching money. That loss would cost the state 46,700 jobs, mostly in the private sector, an Arizona State University economist has estimated.

TUCSON CAN OVERCOME SPRING TRAINING LOSS, TOURISM OFFICIAL SAYS

posted by Michael Chihak

Tucson will be without spring training baseball this year for the first time in more than six decades.

Local economists estimated that when the city had three teams, just two years ago, their presence helped pump $30 million into the economy.

All three teams are gone now, lost to bigger, better and newer ballparks and other incentives in the Phoenix area.

Sherry Henry, executive director of the Arizona Office of Tourism, said this week she believes Tucson officials will use their creativity to replace the economic impact. She mentioned talks with professional baseball organizations in Japan and Korea and an alliance with the San Diego Padres AAA minor league team, to be known at least this coming season as the Tucson Padres.

No announcements have been made about foreign teams coming to Tucson, and the Padres are scheduled to be here for just this year, awaiting the construction of a new facility in suburban San Diego.

The $30 million in losses to the economy is a small amount, about one-tenth of 1 percent of Pima County's GDP.

But because the save baseball movement involved a cadre of recognizable Tucson business and civic leaders, from elected officials to leaders of the Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, it's a blow to the collective ego that their efforts fell short.