Thousands of Legal Immigrants in Arizona Lose Medicaid on Oct. 1; Phoenix Refugee Clinic Braces for Impact
Thousands of legal immigrants in Arizona lost Medicaid coverage on October 1, 2026, a change hitting refugee families who arrived legally in recent years and are still awaiting green cards. At Valleywise Health, Maricopa County's public health system in Phoenix, a clinic serving refugees counts about 1,400 patients; program officials say many are from Burundi, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, in households of 12 to 16 people who have been in Arizona since 2022 without yet receiving green cards.
Ann-Marie Alameddin, president and CEO of the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association, warned the losses put hospital emergency rooms at risk of higher patient volumes, as uninsured patients tend to delay care until conditions become critical — "a fraying of the safety net." Valleywise says it will continue to provide care to those who need it and is working with affected patients, while community health centers and safety-net clinics remain options for those losing coverage.
Source: The Arizona Republic (azcentral.com), October 1, 2026.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：凤凰城Valleywise Health医疗中心大楼。摄影：Kevinjonah Paguio（Cronkite News），CC BY-SA 3.0，来源：Wikimedia Commons
