PHOENIX — Whoever wins the Arizona governor’s race in November will face big changes to Medicaid – reforms that have already upended Arizona’s SNAP program.
Changes to the federal food assistance program and Medicaid were included in President Donald Trump’s tax law known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Along with tax cuts for tips and overtime income, the legislation included expanded work requirements and more frequent eligibility checks.
The provisions, which are behind a massive decline in Arizona’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, will go into effect for the state’s Medicaid program, the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, on Jan. 1.
“I want to be clear that the struggles that Arizonans are facing because of SNAP and Medicaid cuts ... they come from Washington,” Gov. Katie Hobbs said.
More than 400,000 Arizonans have fallen off SNAP’s rolls since Trump signed the tax law in July 2025, a 45% decline. Enrollment has largely ticked up since the spring.
Hobbs’ Republican opponent, U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs, voted for the bill. He said the aim was to ensure only eligible people receive benefits.
“The federal law that's come in wasn't designed to actually punt people off,” he told ABC15 in a recent sit-down interview. “It was designed to actually make sure that people are qualified.”
Arizonans applying for or renewing SNAP benefits have been caught in red tape. Some people have told ABC15 they can’t get the required interview appointments and face issues with submitting documentation.
“We have so much bureaucracy, and sometimes it's just hard to get through the bureaucratic morass, if you will,” Biggs said.
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He said state agencies need to run more efficiently, saying the goal is to have as little government as you need “so that people know that we're working for them, and they're not working for us.”
“There is a potential of using things like AI to actually – if doing nothing more than just setting up those interviews, right?” he said. “I mean, that's one thing you could do."
Biggs says AHCCCS has a lot of waste, fraud and abuse that needs to be slashed. He said the coming expanded work requirements for able-bodied adults on Medicaid will lead to better outcomes.
“We're also trying to get them responsible so that they can actually get out, get trained, maybe get a job and not be dependent on the system,” he told reporters after the gubernatorial debate. “This was never meant to be a lifelong system. This was meant to be a safety net, and that's what it should be.”
The agency that administers SNAP, the Department of Economic Security, has been hard hit by federal funding cuts and load off employees last year.
“A lot of what's going to knock them off the benefits is the administrative loopholes and and the hoops they have to jump through,” Hobbs said. “And so our focus is on trying to shore that up.”
The new state budget includes funding for more staff and improved technology. Hobbs also used temporary funding in December to address long wait times.
“We're continuing to work on that,” Hobbs said last week. “I think we've made progress.”
She said DES has hired additional staff and is working with community-based providers to ensure Arizonans receive the benefits they qualify for.
“I wish we weren't in this situation,” Hobbs said. “But the state's going to do everything we can to help to make sure that people who are entitled to Medicaid can keep their Medicaid, so they get the health care that they need to stay healthy.”
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