The reconciliation bill the Senate has been working on all night includes cuts to Medicaid that are so massive that even some Republicans have criticized them. In a remarkable address Sunday in the Senate, Sen. Thom Tillis asked his GOP colleagues what he should tell his fellow North Carolinians who lose health care coverage. “What do I tell 663,000 people in two years, three years,” he asked, “when President Trump breaks his promise by pushing them off of Medicaid because the funding’s not there anymore?”
These cuts will cost more than 51,000 people their lives every year. That’s not hyperbole. It’s a predictable result when you cut off health insurance to people who are old, poor and sick. And it’s based on analyses and projections from researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard and Yale.
The version of the bill senators are voting on this morning includes more than $1 trillion in proposed cuts to the Medicaid program over 10 years. If enacted, these cuts would be the largest in Medicaid’s 58-year history and would harm the health of millions. And the harms will not stop there.
This is a preview of Eric T. Roberts and José Figueroa's latest column. Read the full column here. |
