“House Republicans have taken the unconscionable step of advancing legislation that would slash $717 billion in Medicaid spending — to pay for Trump’s tax cuts for the wealthy. That would be the most massive cut in the program’s 60-year history. The House Energy and Commerce Committee has begun marking up the Medicaid portion of the Republican budget reconciliation bill today.
More than 13.7 million people could lose basic health coverage. Republicans are cutting them adrift, with no place else to turn for medical care except perhaps the emergency room. These cuts will be particularly harmful to rural hospitals and clinics that service Medicaid patients, many of them in red states. With coverage ripped from millions of Americans, the health care system itself could collapse.
The GOP cuts could hit seniors especially hard, as Medicaid pays for 60% of long-term care services and supports. In particular, the current legislation would discontinue funding for Medicaid Home and Community Based Services (HCBS), forcing seniors who wish to remain in their homes to seek care at nursing homes instead.
These cuts are not ‘pennywise,’ but they’re definitely ‘pound foolish.’ According to George Washington University’s school of public health, this magnitude of Medicaid spending reductions could lead to nearly $60 billion in lost gross domestic product in the states (not to mention the loss of 450,000 jobs. Worse yet, a population deprived of basic health care will ultimately be sicker and cost taxpayers more in the long run.
Republicans may claim that these cuts are aimed at ‘waste, fraud, and abuse,’ but there isn’t anywhere near $717 billion worth of it in today’s Medicaid system. (Not coincidentally, the president and Elon Musk are using the same ruse (‘fraud!’) to undermine the Social Security Administration.) One in 5 Americans (from all walks of life) are currently covered by Medicaid — including the elderly, children, and families. It is craven to deprive them of health care in order to placate wealthy GOP donors and ideologues. There are two deficits in GOP-controlled Washington today: the budget deficit (which the Trump tax cuts will only enlarge) — and an apparent deficit of empathy on the part of most House Republicans.” – Max Richtman, President and CEO, National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare
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