Trump, Republicans make fatal mistake as deadly scheme exposed - Brian Tyler Cohen

[TexasTowelie]

Transcript:

some breaking news here with massive
implications for tens of millions of
Americans The Congressional Budget
Office just released an analysis that
proves that Republicans are planning to
slash Medicaid coverage for Americans
despite repeatedly promising that they
wouldn't touch it So let's look at what
the CBO analysis the Congressional
Budget Analysis which was requested by
Democrats actually found According to
Politico the scorekeeper estimated that
capping federal spending in states that
have expanded Medicaid which Johnson
didn't entirely rule out Tuesday would
lead to 3.3 million people being booted
off their coverage Repealing a Biden era
rule aimed at lessening barriers to
Medicaid enrollment would lead to 2.3
million people losing benefits per the
CBO And limiting the taxes that states
levy on doctors and hospitals to pay for
their share of Medicaid expenditures
would lead to 8.6 million people losing
Medicaid coverage These aren't small
numbers We are talking about millions of
real human beings who would lose their
healthc care coverage under these
proposals that Republicans are actively
considering And we know that they're
considering them because this isn't some
hypothetical here This analysis was done
at the request of Congress based on
proposals that Republicans are literally
putting forward right now And yet what's
so bizarre is that Trump and Republican
leadership explicitly promised never to
touch Medicaid Look Social Security
won't be touched other than it be fraud
or something We're going to find it's
going to be strengthened but won't be
touched Medicare Medicaid none of that
stuff is going to be touched
You don't have to Now if there are
illegal migrants in the system we're
going to get them out of the system and
all of that fraud but it's not going to
be touched That was Trump on Fox News
just a few months ago None of that stuff
is going to be touched he said Could not
be clear right And yet here we are with
concrete proposals from Republicans to
slash hundreds of billions of dollars
from Medicaid throwing millions of
Americans off their health coverage This
is a recurring pattern with the GOP They
make these big bold promises not to cut
popular programs when they're
campaigning or talking to voters And
then once they're actually in power and
no longer need your votes they use these
backdoor methods and technical policy
mechanisms to do exactly what they
promised they wouldn't They know that
Medicaid cuts are deeply unpopular with
voters across the political spectrum
Which is why they're using terms like
per capita caps and provider tax
restrictions instead of just outright
saying we're going to kick millions of
people off their healthcare But let's be
clear about what these proposals would
actually do When Republicans talk about
per capita caps what they're really
saying is they want to put a hard limit
on how much the federal government will
contribute to Medicaid per enroly
regardless of the actual healthcare
costs or needs And so when costs
inevitably rise above that arbitrary cap
states will be left holding the bag And
what do states do when they can't afford
to maintain coverage They cut people
from the program They reduce benefits
They lower provider payments which means
fewer doctors and hospitals will be able
to accept Medicaid patients All of this
adds up to worse care for vulnerable
Americans But here's the kicker and this
really is important because it shows
just how insidious this GOP is The House
Republican budget resolution wants to
cut at least $880 billion from Medicaid
by starving funding to the Energy and
Commerce Committee hoping that they get
some plausible deniability by saying "Oh
we're not going to touch Medicaid We're
simply cutting funding to a committee
with the unspoken part being that there
is no mathematical way to cut energy and
commerce funding without cutting
Medicaid." And that's a point that AOC
drove home in a recent interview here
What Republicans say is "Oh these big
budget cuts don't actually say the word
Medicaid in it so they aren't Medicaid
cuts." But if I tell you 10 minus what's
10 - 4 And you say six I can just tell
you I didn't say six right But they put
the 10 minus 4 into the bill by virtue
of ascribing $880 billion in cuts to
energy and commerce And the only
mathematical way for them to cut $880
billion is to focus on Medicaid That's
right They're saying cut $880 billion
from Energy and Commerce committee I sit
on that committee and energy and
commerce Almost the entire budget that
Energy and Commerce really explores is
Medicaid and Medicare There is no way
that they can make their math square
without enormous and devastate
devastating cuts to Medicaid And look
behind all of the politics and jockeying
and CBO scores and numbers and analysis
let's not forget that real human beings
get hurt when Medicaid gets cut It's
low-income families It's elderly
Americans in nursing homes Medicaid pays
for about 60% of all nursing home care
in this country It's people with
disabilities who rely on Medicaid for
home and community based services It's
children Over 40% of all children in the
United States get their healthcare
through Medicaid or CHIP And that's the
part that's the most insidious here
There is a very clear reason that
Republicans are going after Medicaid and
not explicitly going after Social
Security or Medicare It's because the
folks on Medicaid are people who don't
have a lot of political power The poor
the sick the elderly the children In
other words they are the easiest targets
Republicans know that they want to cut
health care but they want to do so with
minimal political consequences And so in
the same way that they target gay people
or trans people or minorities or any
other marginalized community they've
decided that their easiest target as
relates to health care is Medicaid
recipients For a party full of
self-proclaimed alphas they sure are
hellbent on only targeting people who
they perceive as being the weakest
opponents And that's a point that I made
during an interview on Zateo And I think
what's even more depraved about this is
they went after they went after Medicaid
but not Medicare And that's because they
made a political calculation that
because the folks who are recipients of
Medicare those are seniors are are a
more powerful voting block that they
wouldn't touch that but that because
Medicaid is composed of of lowincome
folks and children that these are people
who don't have political power And so
their goal was to strip away health care
from Americans but they only wanted to
do it when they could suffer the least
amount of political consequence for that
And I think that that's the most
depraved part because because they they
pick and they they they decided to
cherrypick where it would hurt them the
least while they were purposefully
searching out for the people who would
have the least political power while
they were looking to take their
healthcare away in this country I also
think it is an argument though for
universal healthcare and Medicare for
all because when a programs are
universal when they are shared they're
harder to roll back and repeal Whereas
and I got to be honest the reformism of
some of the Biden plans or the Kla
Harris like if you own a Nissan Ultima
that's older than 94 and live in Detroit
area and went to a you know three-year
college and then transferred you will
get a student loan debt relief There was
just so many so many programs that I
really think we need to start We need to
think more deal
But the most frustrating part is that
Republicans don't even have the courage
to be honest about what they're doing If
they truly believe cutting Medicaid is
good policy they should just make that
case directly to the American people But
instead they use technical jargon and
backdoor methods while promising that
they're not doing exactly what they are
doing So the next time you hear a
Republican say that they won't cut
Medicaid remember this CBO analysis
Remember the millions of people who
would lose coverage from just one of
their proposals And worst of all
remember that they are considering these
cuts while simultaneously pushing tax
cuts that primarily benefit the wealthy
and corporations This isn't about fiscal
responsibility It is about priorities
And Republicans have made it clear that
protecting health care for vulnerable
Americans is simply not one of
theirs.