July 2, 2021
We are deeply disappointed that Arizona Governor Doug Ducey signed a budget that included funds that waste Arizona taxpayers’ hard-earned money on an unnecessary program with proposed services already provided by none less than seven existing programs.
Spending $3 million over two years for the obvious special-interest driven Family Health Pilot Program pays little heed to privacy concerns or evidence-based best practices used effectively and efficiently by already-operating programs.
Funds from the budget won’t improve, enhance or expand the good being done, but will use taxpayer dollars for additional operating and administrative costs without financial accountability or fact-or-medical based direction.
Those dollars certainly would have been better spent on programs benefitting women like Medicaid expansion for 12 months postpartum or dental care for pregnant women. Arizona Health Start, with similar services that don’t include geo-tracking through which private information can be collected about citizens’ lives also could have benefitted from extra funding.
The American public supports every woman’s right to receive quality, medically accurate care when she’s pregnant or thinks she might be. Arizona citizens are already better served through existing programs offering information and resources that allow informed decisions leading to fewer unplanned pregnancies, fewer sexually transmitted infections and healthier lives.
By signing the budget with this funding, Governor Ducey is sending a very troubling message about his lack of concern for privacy, medically-accurate services and ultimately wasting $3 million taxpayer dollars.
