As we wait for the white smoke to emerge from the "grand bargain" negotiations at the White House, most Americans are already aware of the Republicans' plan to dismantle and privatize Medicare and Social Security. But what many people may not realize is just how dangerous it would be to slash funding for a program that 60 million Americans rely on for their basic health care needs: Medicaid.
While it seems that just about every major industry or interest group has teams of lobbyists in Washington looking out for them, some of our most vulnerable citizens simply don't have a voice in a town where unfortunately, money still talks the loudest.
Why? Medicaid covers only the impoverished and disabled, so it lacks a traditional advocacy base. This may be news to Republicans -- but most poor people I know are spending all their time trying to find a job and put food on the table. Lobbying Congress just isn't on these folks' to-do list right now. Unfortunately, this means that my colleagues aren't going to spend a lot of time over the next 30 days sticking up for the 60 million Americans who rely on Medicaid to pay their medical bills. That's unfortunate, because if the Republicans are successful in turning the program into a block grant program that greatly diminishes funding to states, three awful things are going to happen -- people are going to die, more jobs are going to be lost, and health care costs and taxes will actually increase.
The fact is that Medicaid is the insurer of last resort for those that reside on the fringes of our economy. But is also pays over 60 percent of all nursing home care in America. So yes, cutting Medicaid will deny health care to a lot of poor women and homeless kids. But it will also force states to choose between three pretty awful options -- kick seniors out of nursing homes and onto the street, raise state tax rates to make up for the lost federal money, or change the rules to force younger family members to pick up the cost of their institutionalized relatives. One estimate suggests that the combined economic effect of these state-based adjustments will be an overall loss of two million jobs. And the worst of it all is that these Medicaid cuts won't actually end up saving the federal treasury any real money. While some of these patients will die from a lack of care, more will simply get shifted to more expensive crisis care at our clinics and emergency rooms, costing the system more in both the short and long run. In my home state of Connecticut alone, turning Medicaid into a block grant would jeopardize nursing home care to 17,000 seniors and disabled residents, impair coverage to over 280,000 children and result in nearly $7 billion less in Medicaid spending.
What is equally alarming is that if the Republicans are successful in dismantling Medicaid during these closed-door negotiations, they may kill health care reform along with it. You see, though most of the 32 million people who will get health care insurance under the Affordable Care Act get it through a tax credit that allows them to buy private insurance, about half of the newly insured are going to be new enrollees in Medicaid. Health reform expands eligibility for Medicaid by raising income thresholds and bringing more poor men into the program. But if Medicaid funding gets gutted, then one of the most likely responses by states is to further undermine the already-terrible rates that Medicaid pays doctors. That means that fewer doctors will accept Medicaid patients just as we need thousands more doctors to sign up the program in order to cover the influx of new enrollees. Thousands of new Medicaid patients could find that they have insurance in name only, which is only slightly less cruel than having no insurance at all. And guess what -- Republicans know this, which is why they are pushing so hard for huge Medicaid cuts.
There is a full-scale revolt brewing on Main Street now that people understand that instead of bringing forward any meaningful plan to create jobs in America, Republicans have been hell-bent on tearing apart Medicare and Social Security. But the result of this popular awakening cannot be that the cuts simply flow to Medicaid. Medicaid cuts shift costs to someone or someplace else. But more importantly, a choice to balance our budget on the backs of poor women and children and the disabled would speak something putrid about our nation. One of the great things that makes us Americans is the communal sense of decency and responsibility. This recession has forced more and more families to turn to Medicaid and millions more to say, "there but for the grace of God go I." If these cuts are allowed, we would be shredding the safety net that the most vulnerable members of our American family rely upon. Over the next few weeks, in order for justice and common sense to prevail, their voice needs become everyone's voice.
Congressman Chris Murphy represents Connecticut's 5th District and is running for the U.S. Senate
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That would be better for the poor and for everyone except health insurance CEOs.
It would be kinder to just euthanize them than let them die in the street. We allow our animals to die with more kindness and dignity.
I am truly disgusted.
Like I said keep voting for these r/teabaggers and this is what happens
I am truly ashamed to be an American and to see what our alleged "leaders" have done to this country.
Long-term care insurance is not the appropriate or adequate option, either. Most plans only cover 3-5 years of skilled nursing care (I've researched buying these plans several times) and if you're over the age of 40, good luck qualifying for an affordable plans with adequate coverage. Don't tell me life isn't fair either...that's the fool's response to such a thing. Life isn't fair, but people have the free will to choose to be fair and to care for their collective village of elders and the disabled.
Maybe your goal should be to find out why 60 million people are on Medicaid in the first place and try to reduce the number rather than always look to add more people to the doles.
I suggest you get out more and learn what else Medicaid pays for, including a host of special interest groups whose members are anything but poor. Not only does medicaid cover these special interest groups with what I would have to call the most amazing healthcare I have ever seen, but they do so at regular hospital rates that no one not covered under this special interest legislation can hope for. Ordinary insurance such as what is available to the general population is not even remotely as helpful, and would impoverish anyone who attempted to actually use a hospital for recovery. Medicaid pays for these special interest groups in their entirety and has created a class distinction issue between those who "get it" and those who do not.
Medicaid is an issue, and it needs to be either generally available or not available, and certainly not to special interest groups.
Onnineko