We're not talking about just scaling back the expansion of health-care to 100 percent of federal poverty level that Gov. Jan Brewer supports. We're talking about the entire health-care support system for the indigent in the state.

From the Arizona Republic:

Biggs, R-Gilbert, said the state can't afford the program and the taxpayer-funded program makes people dependent on "socialized medicine."

Sen. Rich Crandall, R-Mesa, said the reality is that if the state ended the program as of Oct. 1, "by Christmas, there won't be any rural hospitals."

He urged a more deliberate study if the state is serious about such a move. "You don't replace your entire health-care system with a couple of urgent care centers inside a Wal-Mart." However, in a 1:30 a.m. vote, the committe voted 8-5 to move the bill to the full 30-member Senate.

Read the whole thing here.

As the Republic noted earlier this year, dumping AHCCCS entirely would mean the loss of $7.5 billion in federal matching funds for the state, which would pretty much cripple the hospitals that we all depend on.