The Arizona House took a break from doling out money and favors to private businesses long enough on Thursday night to pass KidsCare. The victory for working families will be brief as the measure heads to the Senate.
KidsCare is health insurance for children under 19 of working-class families. Children ages 18 and younger that qualify can get medical, dental and vision services. A family’s payments are based on the family income and the number of children who qualify. KidsCare will cost no more than $50 a month for one child or no more than $70 a month no matter how many children are in the household. Only residents of the state of Arizona, under 19 years of age, not covered by health insurance (including Medicaid), a U.S. national, citizen, legal alien, or permanent resident qualify for the benefit.
| Household Size* | Maximum Income Level (Per Year) |
| 1 | $23,340 |
| 2 | $31,460 |
| 3 | $39,580 |
| 4 | $47,700 |
| 5 | $55,820 |
| 6 | $63,940 |
| 7 | $72,060 |
| 8 | $80,180 |
Rep. Regina Cobb stunned Republican leadership when she attached language to restore KidsCare to a bill, SB1457, which would have granted disabled students “scholarships” funded with public money for private and parochial schools.
Republican leadership has worked tirelessly to weaken public schools by maneuvering as many children away as possible, and the Empowerment Scholarship Account program was established in 2011 to do just that.
The Arizona Republic has found that “two years after state lawmakers granted children from poor-performing schools the right to attend private schools at taxpayer expense, most children using the program are leaving high-performing public schools in wealthy districts.”
The Arizona Republic reported that they “found that during the 2015-16 school year, the program accounted for $20.6 million being taken out of public schools that were rated A or B. Only $6.3 million was taken from schools rated C or D by the Arizona Department of Education, far less than the share of C and D schools statewide.”
The Republic reported that their analysis showed “it’s largely the parents of disabled and special-needs children from wealthy and high-performing schools using the ESAs to put their children into private schools, while parents of disabled children from poorer districts are not.”
“Critics say this creates a system that subsidizes better-off families, while poorer Arizonans are unable to use ESAs because they cannot afford the remaining costs of private-school attendance, including transportation and their share of tuition,” reads the Republic’s report.
The House passed Cobb’s amendment and approved SB1457 on a vote of 38 – 14.