Discussion: GOP Senators Signal They're On Board With Big Medicaid Cuts

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The way we lost in '16: blowing leads and Berner defections means that the GOP will not be restrained until we beat them at the ballot box. That means they can get a bill over the line to the WH. It wonā€™t be the House Bill, but theyā€™ll grab the $ they need for tax cuts. Itā€™s time for them to pay the paymasters.

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ā€œWeā€™ve got to get it under control. Right now itā€™s out of control,ā€ he said of Medicaidā€™s budget. ā€œItā€™s going to be really out of control if we donā€™t do something.ā€

Funny how we never hear them saying similar things about the military budget. We can cut healthcare for people, but cutting money for defense contractors is unthinkable. They must, without fail, get an annual funding increase.

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Itā€™s all about those people getting benefits.

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2013-06-07/medicaid-debate-is-also-about-race

Even so, many millions of white Americans depend on Medicaid, but since they ainā€™t rich, they donā€™t matter any more than poor blacks or Hispanics do (except at election time, that isā€¦)

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Time for all these US Senators and US Reps to lose their healthcare benefits and make them go out on the individual insurance market like everyone else. Let them feel the direct results of their own greed and bull shit actions.

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"We need senators across the ideological spectrum, senators from Medicaid expansion states and non-Medicaid expansion states to all have their concerns heard and reflected in the final bill.ā€

ā€œā€¦except Democrats, of course. We donā€™t need people from that far across the ideological spectrum. Weā€™ll pass this with Republican votes alone.ā€

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and you never will

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ā€œOur concern is that we need a softer landing to give states time to
pick up the slack and continue to provide coverage,ā€ he said.

Anybody who makes such a statement should be challenged to find one state that has the money to pick up any ā€œslack.ā€

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) signaled that the Senate may pursue similarly deep cuts. ā€œWeā€™ve got to get it under control. Right now itā€™s out of control,ā€ he said of Medicaidā€™s budget. ā€œItā€™s going to be really out of control if we donā€™t do something.ā€

All you are doing is creating more uninsured people. If thatā€™s a solution, you have identified the wrong problem.

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ā€œGet it under controlā€ā€¦how so? You mean cut Medicaid so they can give $ 800 Million in tax cuts to the top 1% and kill 30 million Americans including many front line soldier war veterans. All for a tax cut for the rich who are already trying to figure out what to do with all the cash theyā€™ve been getting from the 2 Bush tax cuts.

US Corporate taxes: 2% of GDP and at the very bottom of corporate taxes among the G20 nations. Lowest tax payments of any nation.

Taxes paid by the top 1% as a percent of GDP: 3%. Again, the US top 1% already enjoys the lowest taxes of any 1% class in the entire world. And the Republicans want to lower their taxes even more by cutting healthcare for seniors and those with permanent disabilities.

Is it time to deal with Republicans the same way they are dealing with Americansā€¦they are more than happy to kill American citizens by denying them basic healthcare.

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As he exited the meeting Tuesday, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) signaled
that the Senate may pursue similarly deep cuts. ā€œWeā€™ve got to get it
under control. Right now itā€™s out of control,ā€ he said of Medicaidā€™s
budget. ā€œItā€™s going to be really out of control if we donā€™t do
something.ā€
ā€¦

Orrinā€¦ hereā€™s a solution for you. Remove the fica tax salary cap. Then take that revenue and fund both Medicare and Social Security.

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Wait till all the Republicans with aged parents in nursing homes get the new billsā€¦

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This is all about jiggering the figures so that they can bring the bill to the floor under the ā€œreconciliationā€ process. Itā€™s necessary for Democrats to find some Republican senators (3 of them need to split with the party leadership or not vote) who will be too horrified or scared by the consequences of gutting Medicaid to go along.

Did you know that slashing Medicaid would cut hundreds of millions of dollars from special education? No? Neither to the parents of kids who need special ed. Time to get the word out. And to all of the other populations who support Republicans sometimes, and who donā€™t realize how they will get screwed.

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Well actually they made themselves (and their staff?) ineligible for the Federal Employees Health Benefits (the health insurance marketplace for federal employees), which I actually think is wrong. Most Americans get health insurance from their employer. Unless you think everyone should get healthcare in the individual market, why force them (and their staffs) to do so.

How about every american should have access to the same insurance as their Congressional representative (before they were taken out of the FEHB)?

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Cā€™mon Demsā€¦
Start queuing those ads for 2018ā€¦

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I am unfamiliar with this term; what does it mean?

but floated the idea that the AHCAā€™s tax credits could ā€œpick up some of these peopleā€ that lose Medicaid.

Iā€™m am totally NOT UNDERSTANDING how tax credits will help those people who are working full time minimum wage jobs with their health insurance needs. Please explain this. How will these credits help those poor bastards in the State of IN whose Gov. Pence didnā€™t understand that HIV was proven to be resistant to the power of prayer and blew up into a full blown health emergency?

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ā€˜we need a softer landing to give states time to pick up the slack and continue to provide coverageā€™

It is not plausible that states that refused to expand Medicaid when it was paid for by the feds will ā€œpick up the slackā€ when they have to pay for it.

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Itā€™s a ā€œtellā€ (to use poker parlance) that these Trump GOP senators say they have to cut Medicaid spending but wonā€™t eliminate the tax cuts aimed at the rich. They donā€™t care about spending; they just wish to deliver tax cuts to the rich, and taking away health care from the poor is how the GOP rolls.

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