No Cuts to Medicaid! The Facts on the GOP’s Repeal and Replace Healthcare Bill

By Neil A. Carousso

CBO Score – What It Means:

Most people have seen the headlines that the Congressional Budget Office is predicting 22 million more uninsured by 2026 if the Senate health bill passes into law in its current form.

The CBO also reports that the bill would lower premiums and cut $321 billion from the federal budget deficit. The CBO had projected that the American Health Care Act, passed by the House, would cut the deficit by $119 billion.

The report also says the Senate GOP ObamaCare repeal and replace plan will increase Medicaid spending by $71 billion over the next 10 years. ObamaCare calls for a $231 billion spending hike. 

This is the free market and a smaller, less intervening government at work. People who don’t want health insurance, will not be forced to pay for healthcare (at their own peril) under the “Better Care” plan because the individual and employer ObamaCare mandates are removed.

The CBO was also wrong when it predicted 22 million people would be on the ObamaCare exchanges by 2016; only 10 million Americans were enrolled. People would rather pay the penalty than be forced to pay for health insurance they couldn’t afford with rising costs each year.

The CBO projected that the ACA Medicaid expansion would be much smaller and less expensive than it has turned out to be.

Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are the top three mandatory spending items, accounting for over $1.87 trillion combined, which is roughly 48 percent of the United States federal budget. With a national debt of over $19.9 trillion, these government programs are not sustainable.

Good, do we want people dependent on Medicaid? It's not sustainable as it is a top 3 budget item in an over $19.9 trillion national debt https://t.co/yXRFLrkwwn

— Neil A. Carousso (@NeilACarousso) June 26, 2017

Medicaid enrollment would plummet under the Senate GOP health plan https://t.co/jQeXTmfmCT pic.twitter.com/iuQ8LzWvkb

— Bloomberg Politics (@bpolitics) June 26, 2017

Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid must be reformed and its growth slowed (like the Senate healthcare plan does) or the entitlement programs will not exist for future generations.

No Cuts to Medicaid:

What Republicans and President Donald Trump must do a better job of is communication and messaging about its healthcare bill. They need to be transparent and honest about its plans and discuss the reasons why they believe in certain policies that are fiscally responsible while the President touts “heart.” Otherwise, Americans, unlike this reporter, who don’t read the bill will have a grasp on the GOP’s intentions to improve the failing healthcare system in the U.S. with skyrocketing costs and poor coverage throughout the nation. (This is why socialism doesn’t work.)

POLICY DETAILS IN THE “BETTER CARE RECONCILIATION ACT OF 2017”

Democrats like self-proclaimed Democratic socialist Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said, “Thousands of our fellow Americans every single year will die.”

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said, “Many more people, millions, hundreds of thousands of people will die if this bill passes.”

And, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) piled on with erroneous numbers, saying, “One to 2,000 people will die if you cut 750,000 people from Medicaid. So that means you’re killing one to 2,000 — killing them.”

The left’s scare tactics continue with vile and outrageous rhetoric that could be seen as a call to action following the politically-motivated terrorist attack against Republican lawmakers at the Congressional baseball field that seriously injured House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA), but the Democrat bullet points are not based on fact.

Former White House Press Secretary for President George W. Bush’s first term Ari Fleischer explained Medicaid policy in the Senate GOP bill best in a series of Tweets on Sunday:

My 1st job on the Hill was in '83. The Fed gvt spent $19 billion on Medicaid that year. When I was at the WH in '01, we spent $129 billion.

— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) June 25, 2017

With Obamacare, it goes to $624 billion in 2026. In Washington, spending always goes up. It's just a matter of now much.

— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) June 25, 2017

But why doesn't the press report ALL the numbers? They don't cover the news fully and accurately. They're biased toward conflict, not facts.

— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) June 25, 2017

Medicaid has vastly increased as a percentage of government spending. In 1986, Medicaid accounted for 2.5 percent of all government spending. At the end of 2016, Medicaid accounted for 9.6 percent of the budget with a deficit of over $19 trillion.

There are also people receiving Medicaid who shouldn’t and there is plenty of waste, fraud and abuse of big government bureaucracy. We are moving in the right direction in my eyes. Of course, it’s not perfect, but it’s much better than ObamaCare.

Featured Image of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) answering media questions courtesy of the Associated Press.